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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
HISTORIC DRAMA 

ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE: 

A STUDY BASED CHIEFLY ON THE DRAMAS OF ELIZABETHAN 

ENGLAND AND OF GERMANY 

A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS 

AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE 

OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES) 



BY 

LOUISE MALLINCKRODT KUEFFNER 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

Hgentg 

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 

NEW YORK 

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON AND EDINBURGH 



XTbe XHni\>ersit£ of Cbicago 

FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
HISTORIC DRAMA 

ITS THEORY AND PRACTICE: 

A STUDY BASED CHIEFLY ON THE DRAMAS OF ELIZABETHAN 

ENGLAND AND OF GERMANY 

A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS 

AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE 

OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

(DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES) 




BY 

LOUISE MALLINCKRODT KUEFFNER 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 






^ 



Copyright iqio By 

The University of Chicago 

All Rights Reserved 

Published October 1910 



Composed and Printed By 

The University of Chicago Press 

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 



©CI. A 2737 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction i 

Vagueness of the Conception " Historic Drama " 

The Quarrel concerning the Function of History in the Drama 

Parallelism between the Types of Historic Drama and the Chief 

Forms of Historic Method 
Sketch of Historic Method 

Part I. Deduction of the Chief Problems of the Historic 
Drama on the Basis of Theoretical Discussion on the 
Relation between History and the Drama .... 10 

Part II. The Chief Types of the Historic Drama ... 69 

The Individualistic Character-Drama 73 

The Symbolic Process-Drama 74 

The Corporate Movement-Drama 75 

Part III. The Nature and the Technique of the Corporate 

Movement-Drama . 77 

Bibliography 85 

Index 95 



I desire to express my appreciation especially to Professor Starr W. 
Cutting, of the University of Chicago, for helpful encouragement and 
suggestion in my work. I wish also to thank my other teachers for inspira- 
tion which they have given me, in particular, Professor Camillo von Klenze, 
now of Brown University, Professor Rudolph Lehmann, now of the Royal 
Academy of Posen, and Professor Otto Heller, of Washington University, 
St. Louis, with whom I began my Germanistic studies. I am indebted 
also to Professor Francis A. Wood, to Professor Philip Schuyler Allen, and 
to Professor Martin Schuetze, all of the University of Chicago. To Pro- 
fessor Marian P. Whitney, of Vassar College, I make grateful acknowledg- 
ment for the interest which she has taken in the progress of this study. 



The Fourth Part of this study, which will be concerned with the develop- 
ment of the historic drama in its practice, will not be published as part 
of this dissertation. The whole will appear, as soon as may be, in the 
form of a book planned not only for the scholar, but also for the general 
student who is interested in problems of literary evolution. 



INTRODUCTION 

Within the last century the drama and the theory of the drama have 
undergone a complete revolution. If one passes in thought from the 
classic plays of Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, to certain plays of Ibsen, Haupt- 
mann, Maeterlinck, and Gorky, one is compelled to confess that the sphere 
and the technique of the drama have been enormously broadened. 

If one were to characterize the development in a word, one could say 
that it represents one side of the advance of realism, and that, with realism, 
it is the result of the great movement "toward democracy." Thus we 
find the interest passing from great kings and heroes, more and more to 
the middle class, and finally to the most lowly of all, the proletariat. 
Instead of typical, universally human characterization, we have realistic 
individualization; in place of a problem of private and individual psy- 
chology, we find often the presentation of a great movement that affects 
whole masses. Instead of plot produced by a few consciously calculating 
individuals, individuals isolated, powerful, unaffected by an environment 
or atmosphere, we have a complex resultant of many and not always 
consciously calculating wills. Motivation from scene to scene and action 
to action, from character to catastrophe, has become less visibly logical, 
and is more complex, as well as more subtle in sweep. The conception of 
the historic drama, in particular, a type never before adequately realized 
and analyzed, has received new development both in theory and in practice. 

The influence of realism on the conception of all literary forms is 
shown in the case of the historic drama in a growing desire to comprehend 
and use history honestly, to interpret individuals, their deeds, and events, 
without alteration for subjective purposes, by giving what has actually 
been, not the beautiful, or sublime, or supersensual. Events are presented 
in their natural sequence, and not as fitted into a rationally motived 
scheme, such as the old one of guilt and retribution; they are seen to 
vindicate themselves by actual occurrence according to a large historic 
necessity, and a causal connection so complex that there is room for 
what seems like chance. Moreover, the modern genetic conception of 
history, which has been developed particularly since the French Revo- 
lution, and which sees events as the product of complicated mass action, 
has succeeded the older pragmatic conception which represented an 
historic event as the clear and direct result of the conscious calculation 
of a few definitely willing individuals. This new method of interpreting 



2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

history is reflected in the drama in the giving of milieu, and in the pre- 
senting of the plot as the complex product of the diverse willings of many. 
Definite mass background is given, also, in order to make manifest the 
inevitable determining of the character of the hero by his environment. 

In the writing of history the pragmatic treatment of it has been trans- 
formed, and almost absorbed, in the genetic treatment. As regards the 
writing of historic drama, however, the tyranny of the old type of the 
Aristotelian "tragedy," or rationalistic individualist character-drama, still 
prevails, and makes it difficult for men to enter into the conception of the 
corporate, or historic movement type, with its more epic technique. By 
individualist character-drama I mean the drama of private interest, of 
typical characterization, of visible logical motivation, and of the guilt-and- 
retribution conception of the fate-power. In the corporate type, on the 
other hand, the main interest and point of departure are not the private 
psychological, universally human experience of a chief character or two 
developed according to the guilt, recompense, and catharsis formula, but 
an historic movement, in which large and opposing and equally justified 
forces clash and produce, inevitably, in accordance with historic necessity, 
events of wide social concern. 

If one calls to mind dramas that deal with historic subjects — dramas, 
for instance, of Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Grillparzer, Grabbe, 
Hebbel, Ludwig, Ibsen, Hauptmann — one appreciates at once that they 
are of infinite variety, so that it seems almost impossible to define "his- 
toric drama." The great variety has been produced because the interest 
of the drama lies now more in individual psychology, now in mass move- 
ment; because the figures show either typical characterization or definite 
individualization; because the plot-construction is marked either by sim- 
plicity or complexity; and because the dominant mood of the drama is 
now optimistic, now pessimistic. 

One sees at once that the desire to present history in dramatic form 
has been in constant conflict with the desire to write a "tragedy." 

One sees also that the historic dramas of different times have reflected 
various stages in the understanding of history; that, indeed, they embody 
the conceptions that men have had of the motive force behind the events 
of history. In other words, the drama of history has been parallel to, 
and dependent on, the stages of the philosophy of history. 

It is therefore no wonder that historic dramas have shown such great 
differences. Nor is it a wonder that the function of history in the drama 
has caused such infinite and contradictory discussion, and that the historic 
drama has never been adequately comprehended and vindicated as a dis- 



INTRODUCTION . 3 

tinct species, with origin, nature, purpose, and laws of its own, different, 
especially in its non-pragmatic, non-individualistic types, from those of 
the " tragedy." 

Almost every writer of historic drama has had his tug with the question, 
as have also the critics. Especially since Lessing, since the acquaintance 
of the Germans with Shakespeare, and since Goethe's Goetz von Berlichin- 
gen, theory and practice, as regards the historic drama, have been abundant. 

In the poet's struggle with the problem, the historic interest has too 
often suffered because the theory existed, and still exists, first, that unless 
the development of an inner private psychological experience of a few 
chief characters is depicted, and that unless these characters are presented 
as human struggling individuals with some kind of a love-interest, and not as 
political forces, the resulting drama could have no interest; and secondly, 
because the theory holds that unless the plot, with its catastrophe, a single 
logically developed action, is seen to be the visible result of conflict of 
character, the result is not drama. Therefore the task of presenting true 
history has again and again been relegated to the historian; and again 
and again, man's inherent interest in definite historic actuality, and his 
ineradicable desire to see history dramatically presented before his very 
eyes, has produced ever new attempts at historic drama, and new dis- 
cussions of its theory. 

The following study, which is based chiefly on the dramas of Eliza- 
bethan England and of Germany, will 

I, examine the theoretic discussion which shows the struggle with 
the problem, and also the various adumbrations of a conception of a 
drama honestly historic in aim, adumbrations constantly obscured by the 
desire to write a "tragedy"; 

II, give a classification of various types of historic dramas; 

III, analyze more particularly the nature and the technique of what 
I have called the corporate movement-drama, and of the symbolic 
process-drama; 

IV, study the practice of the historic drama with especial reference 
to these two types. 

Inasmuch as writers of historic dramas reflect at every point the various 
conceptions that men have had of the historic process, it is necessary, 
before passing to the consideration of the subjects mentioned above, to 
give a somewhat explicit account of historic method. 1 

1 For an outline of the interpretations of history see especially Ernst Bernheim, 
Lehrbuch der historischen Methode, and his Geschichtsforschung und Geschichtsphilo- 



4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

The earliest or "recitative" method of writing history is the result of 
"the naive interest in remarkable human fatalities, which is characteristic 
of man in consequence of his curiosity and imagination." 1 The pleasure 
here is in historic anecdote for its own sake; there is no attempt at accurate 
causal motivation. This method is found in Herodotus, largely, 2 and in 
the historic chronicles of the age of Shakespeare. 

Although the recitative method will always have a place in the writing 
of history, it was early overshadowed by the "pragmatic" method. The 
pragmatic method was characterized by the conception of history as the 
result of the definite calculation of a few striking personalities; these 
personalities were represented as being actuated by psychological motives, 
motives which were personal and at the same time universally human. 
Moreover, they were apprehended as representative types of human char- 
acter, not as definite individuals, and this made it possible to deduce 
lessons for general political action. This is the method brilliantly illus- 
trated in Thucydides 3 and in Tacitus. It found its climax in the age of 
rationalism. Dilthey says that this pragmatic method regards "individuals 
as the only empirically deducible causes of events," and that it "considers 
these striking individuals not from the point of view of forces unconsciously 
effective in them; but from the point of view of conscious purpose and 
plan, in short, of rational activity devoted principally to the furthering of 
personal interests." 4 Lamprecht says, "Inasmuch as it was impossible 

sophie; Dilthey, "Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert und die geschichtliche Welt," Die 
deutsche Rundschau (1901); Giesebrecht, " Entwicklung der modernen deutschen 
Geschichtswissenschaft," in Sybels Historische Zeitschrift (1859), I, 1-17; Droysen, 
Grundriss der Historik; Flint, History of the Philosophy of History in France, Bel- 
gium, and Switzerland; Rickert, "Geschichtsphilosophie," in Die Philosophien im 
zwanzigsten Jahrhundert; Lamprecht, Moderne Geschichtswissenschaft; Mencke- 
Glueckert, Goethe als Geschichtsphilosoph. See also Hegel's Philosophic des Rechts, 
Philosophic der Geschichte, Phaenomenologie, Aesthetik. Compare also Poetzsch, 
Studien zur fruehromantischen Politik und Geschichtsauffassung. 

1 Bernheim, Historische Methode, 18. 

2 Even in Herodotus the Persian War is related as a story of punished pride. 
See Part I. 

3 In Thucydides the stories of single characters as well as the story of the Pelo- 
ponnesian War are also fashioned in such a way as to fit into the "tragedy" mold of 
punished Hybris. See Part I. Compare Cornford, Thucydides Mythistoricus. The 
pragmatic purpose appears clearly in the words of Thucydides' Introduction: "I 
shall be satisfied if the facts are pronounced to be useful by those who shall desire to 
know clearly what has happened in the past, and the sort of things that are likely, 
so far as man can foresee, to happen again in the future." 

4 Deutsche Rundschau (1901). 



INTRODUCTION 5 

to show the inter-connection of the entire psychical processes of an age, 
the tendency arose, to regard the great intellectual phenomena as the 
result of the activity of a few definite individualities." 1 Bernheim, finally, 
writes, '"Pragmatics' easily comes to overestimate the power of personal 
motives in the shaping of history, and thus overlooks the others; .... 
so that in the end the fortunes of thrones and nations are imagined to be 
dependent upon the whims of ladies' maids." He also calls attention to 
the fact that this method lends itself readily to didactic purposes, and that 
it has been used particularly for the promulgation of patriotism. He 
finds that it has flourished chiefly at times when the power and caprice of 
the single individual, such as an absolute ruler, seem to shape the destiny 
of nations. 2 

This pragmatic method has given way, since Herder, Goethe, 3 and the 
German Romanticists of the early nineteenth century, to the " genetic" 
method of comprehending the processes of history. 

The period following the French Revolution represents a new era for 
historians. Approval and reaction both fed the desire to find a law in 
this fearful, seemingly unmotived, cataclysm. The very failure of some of 
the ideas of the Revolution, which the few, the "rational" individuals, had 
attempted to foist on the people, caused the defeat of rationalism. The 
great quarrel concerning the justification of " natural right," which had 
been proclaimed by the rationalists, or of "traditional right," which was 
the outcome of slow organic growth, reached its culmination. In spite of 
reactionism, the will of the great mass of the people was being awakened; 
peasants were freed from serfdom; soldiers were no longer sold; and 
slowly came the advance toward constitutionalism. All this helped to 
transform men's conceptions of history. 

Historic process was now seen to be a gradual growth produced by the 
cumulative, unconscious effort of an infinite number of individuals, as 
well as by natural, racial, economic, social, cultural, and political causes. 
It was recognized that in this process the striking personalities, who had 
formerly been thought to be the real movers of events, counted only as 
"focalized embodiments" of the forces of the milieu that stood behind 
them. It was clearly seen that the characters and actions of the indi- 
viduals — the "focalized embodiments" of the forces behind them — were 
thus determined inevitably, and that they therefore had little power or 

1 Lamprecht, "Ueber die Entwicklungsstufen der deutschen Geschichtswissen- 
schaft," Zeitschrift fur Kulturgeschichte, V, VI. 

2 Bernheim, 24. 

3 Mencke-Glueckert, Goethe als Geschichtsphiloso ph. 



6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

freedom or autonomy in the old- sense. The realization of law, of the 
causal connection of all phenomena, of the absolute continuity of history, 
a continuity not even disturbed by the irruption of human volition, has 
permeated, more and more, this genetic conception of the historic process. 

Furthermore, the actual operation of this law of continuity could be 
conceived as taking place in either of two ways. One class of thinkers, 
as Vico, Montesquieu, the later Goethe, 1 Compte, Lamprecht, 2 accepted 
causality, but without the accentuation of a conscious teleological aim on 
the part of a transcendent planner; they endeavored to formulate laws 
of historic process analagous to the laws discovered for the physical sciences. 
Another class, Herder, on the whole, Kant, Schiller, and most dominat- 
ingly, Hegel, viewed the "world-history" as the conscious advance of the 
"world-spirit." 

No conception has had as great an influence in the molding of historic 
thought as Hegel's, and it is so abundantly illustrated in historic dramas 
that it is necessary to dwell a little fully on Hegel's thought. Hegel con- 
ceived of an historic epoch as a movement, a movement which is the result- 
ant of complex opposing forces that are in each case historically justified. 
This movement is to him merely a step in the inevitable advance of the 
"world-spirit" which uses the individuals, the organs of their age, as 
instruments in the accomplishment of its aim, the growth in the conscious- 
ness of freedom. In exposition of this Hegelian or "catastrophic" con- 
ception Droysen says that it 

shows various forms, tendencies, interests, parties, each with some right on its 
side, engaged in a battle, wherein the higher thought, whose elements or sides 
display themselves in the parties contending in the struggle, justifies and fulfils 
itself by vanquishing and reconciling them. 3 

Concerning the individual he writes, 

Things take their course in spite of the will, good or bad, of those through 
whom they come to pass. The continuity of history, its work and its advance, 
lies in the moral potencies. 4 In these potencies all have part, each in his place. 
Through them, mediately, even the meanest and poorest participates in the life 
of history. But even the most highly endowed man, strongest of will and most 

1 Mencke-Glueckert, Goethe als Geschichtsphilosoph. 

2 See Bernheim's characterization of Lamprecht's method, Bernheim, op. cit., 66o. 
See also Mencke-Glueckert, op. cit. 

3 Droysen, 52-53 (in the translation). 

4 By moral potency is meant a conception which is felt by men to have moral 
value as an ideal, and which consequently acts as an incentive of action and is there- 
fore a determinant of historic development. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

exalted in power, is only an element in this movement of the moral potencies, 
though always, in his place, specially characteristic and efficient. In this role 
only does historic investigation view any man, not for his own sake, but on 
account of the idea whose bearer he was. 1 

Although Hegel's formula, with its a priori disposition of the moments 
of concrete history, was overworked, and consequently ridiculed during 
the reaction against Hegel, still his conception of the manner of the his- 
toric march, his recognition of freedom as the greatest of the moral potencies 
that produce historic advance, and finally, his postulation of a state in 
which individualism and collectivism, freedom and necessity, should be 
reconciled, have been essentially rehabilitated. Heinrich Rickert says in 
his article on the " Philosophy of History" in the volume entitled The 
Philosophy of the Twentieth Century, 

For the rest, Hegel's philosophy of history moves entirely in conceptions 
which grow naturally out of immanent historic life. The great problem with 
which the philosophy .of history of our time must concern itself, is the question 
as to the possibility of finding, on the basis of the idealism founded by Kant, 
and with full recognition of the results of modern science, a value or moral potency 
which can serve as a central conception from which universal history may be 
treated philosophically. Starting from such a standpoint, one could arrive at a 
philosophy of history which would take into consideration the historic knowledge 
of our day, but which would in principle — notwithstanding differences of con- 
tent — show the same formal structure as the systems of Fichte and Hegel. 2 

These ideas concerning the processes of history imply, moreover, a feeling 
of fatalism produced by the realization that the individual is determined 
by heredity, by the influences that come to him from the past and from 
the present, a feeling of fatalism contained, also, in the belief that the 
"world-spirit" uses all individuals, good and evil, in the working out of 
its great aim, and that the evil individuals are necessary to the accom- 
plishment of this purpose. This is the "cunning of Reason," Hegel says, 
that it lets the individuals, the "passions," work for itself. 3 

The genetic conception of history has entailed, also, an entirely new 
attitude of historic justice and objectivity. A developed power of imagina- 
tive sympathy, and reverence for that which is individual, make it possible 
to feel the value of each age, of each people; and the rationalist's contempt 
of every age that had preceded his own age of enlightenment has given 
way to a Ranke's sympathetic appreciations of all times and peoples. It 

1 Droysen, 29-30. 

2 Die Philosophie im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert, 125, 131. 

3 Hegel, Einleitung zur Philosophie der Geschichte. 



8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

was the early Romanticists of Germany who first insisted that the "his- 
torically finite phenomenon should, it is true, be considered in its connec- 
tion with the whole, but should in no way be robbed of its individual 
value." 1 

In concluding this sketch of historic method, a few authoritative defini- 
tions of present-day writers on the subject are quoted. In these definitions 
the science of history, which deals with the presentation of concrete his- 
toric events, is carefully distinguished from the philosophy of history, 
which aims to interpret the concrete facts by disengaging their underlying 
laws. 

Rickert says that the true aim of the historian is, not to study events 
for their typical and pragmatic value, but to endeavor "to grasp a movement 
in its singleness and never-returning individuality"; 2 similarly, he finds 
that the purpose of the science of history is "the presentation of the develop- 
ment of civilization as it occurs only once." 3 According to Lamprecht, 
historic life is seen to be the "process by which the potential force of the 
individual psychology as well as the corporate psychology of large human 
communities transforms itself into concrete reality." 4 Bernheim, finally, 
declares "Historic science is the science which studies the evolution of 
men in their (single as well as typical and collective) activities as social 
beings, and which presents this evolution in its causal continuity." 5 

Of the aim of the philosophy of history Rickert writes, 
One tries to show, first, how large a part history has already embodied of 
the moral potencies, whose existence as determining factors in the development 
has been substantiated by philosophic criticism; and secondly, one tries to show 
which have been the great epochs of such embodiment. In this way one is able 
to comprehend where, in the march of development, we stand today, and where 
we must find our problem for the future. 6 

The chief points, then, that are important in the modern conceptions 
of history are first, the realization of absolute causal connection; secondly, 
the question of teleology in this causal connection; thirdly, the careful 
determination of the relations between mass power and individual power 
in molding events; fourthly, the question of the determinism or of the 
freedom of the individual; fifthly, the growth of historic objectivity and 
of the just appreciation of all forms of civilization; and sixthly, the appre- 
hension of historic figures as definite individuals, not as types. 

1 Poetzsch, Studien zur fruehromantischen Politik und Geschichtsauffassung, 81. 

2 "Geschichtsphilosophie," Die Philosophie im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert, 66. 

3 Ibid., 133. s Bernheim, op. cit., 6. 

4 Lamprecht, Moderne Geschichte. 6 Op. cit., 133. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

All of these points are reflected in the various historic dramas, and in 
the discussions concerning the function of history in the drama. More- 
over, although indeed many of the historic dramas show a crossing of in- 
fluences, yet it is possible to recognize that the chief types of historic drama 
correspond to the recitative, the pragmatic, and the genetic methods of 
interpreting concrete history, and to the point of view illustrated in the 
philosophy of history. 1 

1 A similar phenomenon can be traced in historic novels. Cf., for instance, the 
novels of Walter Scott and his followers in Germany, Riehl's Culturgeschichtliche 
Novellen; Viebig's Das schlajende Heer; Meyer's Angela Borgia; Barthels' Die 
Dithmarschen. 



PART I 

DEDUCTION OF THE CHIEF PROBLEMS OF THE HISTORIC 
DRAMA ON THE BASIS OF THEORETICAL DISCUSSION 
ON THE RELATION BETWEEN HISTORY AND THE 
DRAMA 1 

Greece had no drama in which the historic event or the historic picture 

or personality were the raison d'etre. Aeschylus' Persians, the only extant 

play on an historic subject, was not essentially different 

Grl'66Ce . 

from non-historic dramas, and presented merely the 
typical tale of punished pride. Accordingly, Aristotle's dramaturgical 
program shows no comprehension of the use of history in the drama. 
Thus he says "that it is not the province of the drama to relate what 
has actually happened, but what may happen," and that poetry speaks 
of the "universal," history alone of the "particular." 2 

The drama of Rome is similar to that of Greece; in spite of the 
tragoediae pretextae on subjects such as Cato, Brutus, Nero, Octavia, it 

produced no play historic in aim, and no new theory. 

Octavia, the only play of this type that is extant, is again, 
in spite of its references to events of imperial Roman history, only a 
play whose theme is that of the typical suffering of a typical character; 
there is no attempt at definite individualization. 

The Chronicle History plays that were written in England during 
the sixteenth century represent the first manifestation of real historic 

drama. In spirit, as in technique, they differ entirely 

from the "tragedy." They consciously show a decided 
interest in events because they were supposed to be " true," especially if 
they were strange as well as true. Thus many of them are advertised 
in the titles as being a "true tragedy," or a "true chronicle history," 
of this or that interesting personality. 3 These plays are always a strange 

1 In the following discussion the endeavor is made to draw conclusions from the 
theories of the dramatists, not from their practice; hence the lack of congruity between 
theory and practice is not, where it occurs, taken into consideration. On the other 
hand, the practice, in so far as it illuminates the theory, is constantly kept in mind. 

2 Aristotle, Poetics, ix, xxiii, xv. 

3 For expression of this spirit see the use of the word "true" : n titles and adver- 
tisements of plays: The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York; The True Chronicle 
Historie of King Leir. As late as 1634 Ford commends Perkin Warbeck as a "strange 
truth." In the case of the legendary Lear, it must be remembered that his story was 
at that time considered true history. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS II 

mixture of historic and pseudo-historic elements; of interest in true historic 
events, and in romance, adventure, horseplay, passion, and blood and 
thunder. 1 In this respect they very largely resemble the historic writing of 
their day, with its recitative, or at most, pragmatic spirit. 2 " Hence it is 
natural that no theoretical discussion accompanied the naive creation of 
these plays, that the writers of them had little conception of deeper causal 
connection or of unified organization of the material, and that their concep- 
tion of history, as well as of the function of history in the drama, is entirely 
crude. 

For a long time the spirit and technique of the Chronicle play dominated 
dramatic creation. The epic structure was popularly used in dramatizing 
antique and foreign, as well as English, history. Such is the case in 
Marlowe's Massacre of Paris, and in Lodge's Wounds of Civil War. 
Gradually, however, this structure came to be tabooed, and Ford, when 
he tried to renew the species in his Perkin Warbeck, felt an apology 
necessary. Thus he defends his use of the Chronicle technique in the 
words "We cannot limit scenes, for the whole land Itself appeared too 
narrow to withstand Competitors for kingdoms." 3 The old Chronicle 
spirit is shown in his advertisement of this play as " A History known, 
Famous, and true." 4 Ford's interest, however, is a belated phenomenon. 
The old historic spirit and the epic technique that had been character- 
istic of the Chronicle Histories became ever rarer. 

It is true that after the sixteenth century the custom of making historic 
personalities the heroes of dramas became very common in every country; 
but this frequent choice of historic subject, even when taken from con- 
temporary history, as in the case of Glapthorne's Albertus Wallenstein, or 
Gryphius' Carolus Stuardus, is no longer due, usually and in the main, to 
genuine historic interest. It is due, rather, to the tradition, and possibly 
to the belief, fostered by the example of the supposedly Senecan Octavia, 
and by a misunderstood Aristotle, that the heroes of tragedies should be 
distinguished personalities whose lives have shown reversals of fortune, 
reversals merited, usually, in consequence of overweening pride. Thus 
this theme of punished Hybris, which had seemed to the antique world the 
essentially tragic theme, and which had acted as a formative principle in 

1 On the English historic drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries see 
especially Schelling, The English Chronicle Plays, and The Elizabethan Drama. For 
a fuller discussion cf. below, Part IV. 

2 Cf. the Introduction. 

3 Prologue to Perkin Warbeck. 

4 Ibid. 



12 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

the antique arrangement of dramatic as well as of historic writing, became 
a favorite theme, also, of modern historic writing and of the modern 
drama. 1 Furthermore, the Senecan structure, and the dicta of Aristotle 
that the poet deals not with what has actually happened, but with that 
which might logically happen; with personalities conceived as types, 
not as particular individuals; and with the sufferings and fortitude 
incident upon the reversals of fortune of distinguished individuals — these 
were universally accepted. Such was the case in France, especially after 
the example of Corneille, whose Discours concerning dramatic technique 
were written in 1638, and thence in European countries generally. For 
this reason the discussion of the province of history in the drama is rare 
before the time of Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller, a time when a new efflores- 
cence of the drama coincided with the new movement in the conception of 
history. 

Sidney writes in his Apologie for Poetrie (1581), "Tragedie is tied to 
the laws of Poesie, and not of Historie, [and is] not bound to follow the 
storie, but having liberty .... to frame the historie to its most 
tragicall convenience." He merely revoices Aristotle. 2 There is 
no discussion in Ben Jonson's Timber, although his Sejanus (1603) 
and his Catiline (161 1) show conscious effort at archaeological 
accuracy in the use of facts given by the Roman historians. Chap- 
man, in his "Epistle Dedicatory" to the Revenge of Bussy d'Ambois (1604), 
says distinctly that historic truth is not his object. "And for the authen- 
tic al truth of either person or action, who .... will expect it in a poem 
whose subject is not truth, but things like truth?" He thinks that the 
purpose of tragedy is instruction, especially instruction in the virtue of 
loyalty. Dryden says nothing on the point in his Essay of Dramatic 
Poesy (1667), nor in the Defense; but in the "Vindication" of his drama 
The Duke of Guise, he remarks that "where the action is remarkable and 
the very words related, the poet is not at liberty to change them much." 3 
In The Tragedies of the Last Age, John Rymer (1678) demands that the 
plots of tragedy should be taken from history. Yet the history given 
in the heroic plays to which he refers is notoriously false. Addison, 
in the Spectator of 1711, in his discussion of tragedy, does not mention 

1 Cf. the Mirror for Magistrates; Chapman's plays on the Duke of Byron, Bussy 
d'Ambois; Ben Jonson's Sejanus; Fletcher and Massinger's Jan van Olden Barnevelt; 
Glapthorne's Albertus Wallenstein, and many others. 

2 Sidney, Apologie for Poetrie, 35 ff., 64. 

3 Nevertheless this drama has political purpose, and illustrates the pragmatic 
tendency to base political intrigue on the love and hate motives of the boudoir. See 
also Courthope, II, 431 ff. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 1 3 

the point. 1 The only recognition of the historic drama as a distinct 
species with a distinctive technique is found in Samuel Johnson's criti- 
cisms of Shakespeare's Histories in his Preface to Shakespeare, written in 
1768. He here defines a History as a "series of actions, with no other 
than chronological succession, independent of each other." He says of 
the history that, "as it had no plan, it had no limits," and adds that the 
histories, being "neither tragedies nor comedies, are not subject to any 

of their laws The incidents should be various and affecting. No 

other unity is sought." He remarks that in Shakespeare the line between 
history and tragedy is not always strictly observed. He also believes 
that Shakespeare planned his histories as a whole, and that this whole 
was divided up merely for the purposes of stage presentation. Johnson's 
liberality of judgment concerning the technique of an historic play is surely 
without a parallel. But commendable as is this liberality as being the 
first requisite of the ability to appreciate types of literary form, in this 
case it is unjust to what Shakespeare really gave, and does not lead on 
to a true conception of historic drama. 

The account of the English discussion concerning the relation between 
history and the drama is here interrupted because we have now approached 
the date of Lessing's criticisms. After a brief sketch of the meager French 
references to the subject, a careful treatment of the very full German dis- 
cussions will be given, and finally a brief reference to later and likewise 
meager English theory. 

There is not much serious discussion of the problem in France. Cor- 
neille, who uses historic personalities and events freely and for poetic illus- 
t tration of his stoical philosophy, in his three Discours of 1 638 

says of the writer of historic drama merely, "II peut bien 
choquer la vraisemblance particuliere par quelque alteration de Phistoire, 
mais non pas se dispenser de la generate, que rarement." His criterion of 
historic changes is mere probability, hence, if the historic facts are not known 
to spectators, the changes can be made more freely. He finds a difficulty in 
crowding the necessarily more numerous events of an historic plot into one 
day, and counsels a vague time and place. In Corneille's case it is well known 
that he never aimed at writing real historic drama. 2 Boileau, in his Vart 
poetique (1674), merely speaks of the value of giving accurate local color. 3 

1 Spectator, 39, 40, 42, 44, 45. 

2 See Lanson's book on Corneille. Corneille's discussion is found in "Discours 
du poeme dramatique"; "Discours de la tragedie"; "Discours des trois Unites," 
(Euvres, I, 52 ff., 95 ff. 

3 Vart poetique" chant iii, p. 68. 



14 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

Voltaire seemed to his contemporaries to have given a new type of historic 
drama in La mort de Cesar (1735) and in Rome sauvee (1752). Here they 
found an interest other than that of the conventional love and intrigue that 
had seemed the indispensable requisite of the drama. This interest was 
analyzed as "le plaisir d'etre temoin .... d'une revolution qui fait 
epoque dans l'histoire," as opposed to an individualistic interest in a single 
person or even family. At the same time scorn is expressed for 
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and for his English Histories, "ou il n'y a ni 
unite ni raison, . . . . ou l'histoire est conservee jusqu' a la minutie, et les 
mceurs alterees jusqu'au ridicule." 1 We find here the accentuation of 
the accuracy of the mceurs already suggested in Boileau. Voltaire himself, 
the pioneer of Kuiturgeschichte, insisted on this very point in his Preface 
to Rome sauvee: 2 "Les savants ne trouveront pas ici une histoire fidele de 
la conjuration de Catilina; ils sont assez persuades qu'une tragedie n'est 
pas une histoire; mais ils y verront une peinture vraie des mceurs de ce 
temps-la." He insists also on the fact that his characters are true, though 
the events are fictitious. "Tout ce que Ciceron, Catilina, Caton, Cesar, 
ont fait dans cette piece n'est pas vrai; mais leur genie et leur charactere 
sont peints fidelement." He will feel rewarded if his work "fait connaitre 
un peu l'ancienne Rome." This position of Voltaire's regarding the his- 
torical character and the historical actions is not different from Lessing's. 
He has, however, more genuine historic intention than Lessing. This is 
shown also in his criticisms of Corneille's Essex, and of Rodogune, etc. In 
the matter of mceurs Lessing has opposing views. Indeed, as will be devel- 
oped subsequently, Lessing's discussion is largely aroused by opposition 
to Voltaire's criticisms of these plays. 

In Germany before the time of Lessing one finds in many plays a naive 
enjoyment of historic reality similar to that illustrated in the English 
Chronicle Histories. The problem of the relation be- 
bpfo'pT <aq* «. tween history and the drama is not discussed, not in 
Opitz' Buck von der deutschen Poeterei (1624), nor in 
Gottsched's Kritische Dichtkunst (1730). Gottsched gives expression, 
however, to an idea which points along the line of the later concep- 
tion of the corporate historic drama. He says, "Die Handlung muss 
wuchtig sein, das ist, nicht einzelne Personen, Haeuser, oder Staedte, 
sondern ganze Laender betreffen." 3 In 1767 Klopstock boasts in a letter 

1 " Avertissement des editeurs de Kehl," written about 1782, (Euvres de Voltaire, 

vi, 341-42. 

■ Ibid., VI, 343 ff- 

3 Gottsched, op. cit., IV. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 1 5 

referring to his Bardieten on Hermann, that he has observed historic truth 
more than "sonst Dichter." 1 

Gottsched and the writers of the Bremer Beitraege counseled the choice 
of national subjects, especially for the purpose of awakening German 
patriotism. This, of course, reflects the spirit of the pragmatic method of 
writing history, and is closely connected with the whole rationalistic theory, 
expressed particularly by Sulzer, that a work of art should aim at moral 
betterment. 

The first critic who endeavored definitely to consider the relation of 
history to the drama, and its use in dramatic work, who first recognized 
this matter as a problem to be clarified, and who first gave 
definite, repeated, and elaborated expression to his theories, 
is Lessing. He, however, although criticizing the French drama, did not 
really understand Shakespeare, whom he admired, 2 and so gives only a 
reinterpretation of Aristotle. Incited to opposition by Voltaire's criticisms 
on historic dramas such as Thomas Corneille's Essex and as Rodogune, 
he declares that Aristotle is as infallible as Euclid, 3 and that he has long ago 
decided in how far the dramatist should concern himself with history. 4 
He says, "Der dramatische Dichter ist kein Geschichtschreiber . . . . er 
erzaehlt nicht was man ehedem geglaubt dass es geschehen, sondern er 
laesst es nochmals .... geschehen, nicht bloss der historischen Wahrheit 
wegen, sondern in einer ganz anderen und hoeheren Absicht; die historische 
Wahrheit ist nicht sein Zweck, sondern nur das Mittel zu seinem Zwecke." 5 
An historic period may be reproduced altogether inaccurately, the real 
intention being to give a picture of the manners of the writer's own land. 6 
Local color is not necessary, and often not even desirable, since, if the com- 
prehensible and customary manners of one's own time are given, it is much 
easier for the audience to enter into the mood of the drama. 7 That, he 
thinks, is the reason why the Greeks always reproduced Greek and not 
barbarian customs, as is especially noticeable in Aeschylus' The Persians. 8 
He doubts whether the study of history is good for the tragic poet; 9 and 

1 Brie fa September 15, 1767. 

2 Bulthaupt, II, 9; M.L. Notes (June, 1904), pp. 232-49, article by Meisnest. 

3 Hamburgische Dramaturgic, 100-4. 
* Ibid., 11, 17, 19, 23, 25, 31, 42. 

s Ibid., 11. 

6 Ibid., 17. This he applies particularly to the comedy, ibid., 72, 97. In Dr. 1 
he criticizes inaccuracy in an image placed in a mosque contrary to the Mohammedan 
custom. 

7 Ibid., 17, 97. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid., 42. 



1 6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

says that he may invent or minimize historic facts, 1 and that verification 
of the history given in the drama is futile and uncalled for. 2 He considers 
the historic fable to be a ready-found labor-saving expedient, to be taken 
if it fits the poet's intentions^ the historic facts, he declares, can be treatep 
with the utmost freedom. 4 

Moreover, the chief interest is not in the fable but in the character 
found in history, and history is merely a repertory of names which one has 
come to associate with certain characters; 5 the historic name is chosen 
because the historic character coincides with the character that the poet has 
decided to portray; 6 for this reason the characters chosen are sacred. 7 
These characters are to be represented as types, not as specific individuals 
in whom one is interested because they have actually lived. Therefore 
he who pictures a Cato, a Caesar, without showing that their individual 
characteristics flow from their characters as typical, universally human 
characters common to others besides themselves, is degrading tragedy into 
history. 8 The drama represents, not what this or that individual has 
actually done, but what any man of a certain type would do under certain 
circumstances. 9 

Although Lessing realizes that in the real world of large connections 
there is divine law in the seemingly accidental, he declares that God 
alone can see the causal connection in so large a picture. He insists 
that in the drama the poet, who chooses a smaller section, must give to 
nature boundaries which she has not in reality, 10 and must construct a whole 
in which everything is perfectly motived and arranged in accordance with 
his purposes. 11 He writes: 

In der Natur ist alles mit allem verbunden Aber nach dieser unendlichen 

Mannigfaltigkeit ist sie nur ein Schauspiel fuer einen unendlichen Geist. 12 .... 
In (dem ewigen unendlichen Zusammenhang aller Dinge) .... ist Weisheit und 
Guete, was uns in den wenigen Gliedern, die der Dichter herausnimmt, blindes 
Geschick und Grausamkeit scheinet. Aus diesen wenigen Gliedern sollte er ein 
Ganzes machen, .... wo eines aus dem anderen sich erklaeret. 13 

Thus, then, the fact that an undeserved catastrophe has happened to an 
individual in history is no argument for introducing it into the drama; here 

1 Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 31, 23. 

2 Ibid., 23, 24. 8 Ibid., 89. 

3 Ibid., 19. 9 Ibid., 19. 

4 Ibid., 21, 31, 33, 97, 70. IO Ibid., 107. 

s Ibid., 24. 11 Ibid., 19, 34; also 16. 

6 Ibid., 23. 12 Ibid., 70. 

7 Ibid., 23, 33. 13 Ibid., 19, 79. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 1 7 

it would seem like blind fate and cruelty. 1 Hence, in order to make a 
logical connection between his character and his fate, the hero must be 
guilty of some fault. "Folglich muessen .... Verdienst und Unglueck 
in bestaendigem Verhaeltniss bleiben." 2 " Unterdessen ist es wahr, dass 
an dem Helden ein gewisser Fehler sein muss, durch den er sein Unglueck 
ueber sich gebracht hat." 3 Referring to dramas in which the catastrophes 
are unmotived, he quotes a remark that a certain heroine's cause of death 
is the fifth act. 4 

Thus the chief points which Lessing has brought to discussion are: 
(i) the question of historic fidelity as applied to the event, to the character, 
and to the setting or "mceurs"; (2) the question as to whether the charac- 
terization should be typical or individualistic; (3) the question of strict 
causal motivation, especially the motivation of the hero's castrophe from 
a fault or guilt of his, rather than the acceptance of an actual event motived 
by a larger, and less visible, historic necessity. 

From this time on the theories concerning the historic drama and the 
dramas themselves reflect the tendencies that found a culmination and a 
new departure in the French Revolution. Schiller and Goethe never came 
to understand how this catastrophic outburst was, after all, the inevitable 
result of complex causes, and they therefore had no real sympathy for the 
movement. The younger generation however, was deeply affected by 
the continued advance of democracy. As suggested in the Introduction, 
an entirely new conception of historic necessity, of fate, of the tragic motif 
inherent in all historic development, grew up. Events might at first seem 
like chance, inscrutable, uncomprehended — so the death of Louis XVI — ■ 
but those that looked more deeply felt in it all only the inevitable working 
out of eternal law manifested in the real historic march of things. Many 
shuddered at the "Fate" that had shown itself in the mighty "falls of 
princes"; nature seemed lawless, demonic, a cruel sphynx; this conception 
found expression in the German fate-tragedies of the time. The great 
historic thinkers, however, showed that after all fate was reasonable, a fate 
of historic necessity, advancing in grand strides, comprehended only when 
whole ages were taken into consideration. The fact that the mass and 
not the individual is the real master of history was felt by Napoleon himself. 
He wrote, "I was never my own master, but was always steered by con- 
ditions I was never the master of my actions, because I was never 

so foolish as to wish to submit events to my system. "5 The insight that 

1 Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 79. 3 An Mendelssohn, Br. 55. 

2 An Nicolai, Br. 53. 4 Hamb. Dram. 2. 
s Correspondence de Napoleon, XXXIII, 303. 



1 8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

history is the product of slow organic growth was accompanied by a reali- 
zation of popular and national consciousness, and a feeling of the sacredness 
of the state. This again tended toward collectivism; the whole, the mass, 
society, not the individual, became the chief interest. On one side there 
is a greater appreciation of the individual; on the other side, the individual, 
every individual, becomes subordinated to a collective whole. 

When young Goethe in Strassburg was filled with enthusiasm for 
Germany and the German past, his patriotic mood caught fire upon reading 
Shakespeare's Histories, and in his Goetz von Berlichingen 
he not only renewed the species, but instinctively hit upon 
the only way in which the Chronicle type could be organized if it were to 
be developed along its own line. This he did by selecting as the principle 
of unity a period of history in which great mass tendencies, representing 
two epochs, came into conflict; that is, by selecting what Goethe called 
an important " turning-point " in the " history of nations." 1 The "turning- 
point" in the case of Goetz was the epoch of conflict between the age of 
robber-knight individualism and individualistic redress of wrong on the 
one hand, and the new age which stood, however imperfectly, for order 
assured by codified law on the other hand. Goethe was interested not 
only in the frank, strong, individualistic Goetz and in his love-troubled 
Weisslingen, 2 but in this historic movement broadly conceived, and in the 
rich historic setting. In later reference to Goetz von Berlichingen he realizes 
himself that in this drama a new species has been created. 3 The choice 
of Egmont showed the same selection of a "turning-point." 4 Goethe 
analyzed the movement involved in Egmont — the conflict between Dutch 
democracy and Spanish despotism — as "festgegruendete Zustaende die 
sich vor strenger, wohlberechneter Despotie nicht halten koennen." 5 Hav- 
ing thus selected these two subjects, he even planned more historic plays. 
He says, "Ich hatte vor, mich von diesem Wendepunkt der deutschen 
Geschichte [referring to Goetz] vor und rueckwaerts zu bewegen." 6 It 
is significant that Goethe criticizes the " Ritterdramen " because they did 
not select important movements. He says, "Nach Goetz ging man ins 
Privatleben."^ 

1 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XIX, end, and XIII (Weimar-Ausgabe, XXIX, 162, 
and XXVIII, 206). 

2 Ibid., and Book XX. 

3 Eckermann, Gespraeche mit Goethe, III, 209, 6. 

4 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XLX, end (W.-A., XXIX, 162). 

5 Ibid. 6 Ibid., XIII (W.-A., XXVIII, 206). 
7 Eckermann, Gespraeche mit Goethe, II, 205. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 1 9 

Although in Goetz von Berlichingen Goethe's sympathy lies, unhistori- 
cally, with the conquered robber-knight individualism, the Hegelian con- 
ception of an historic epoch as a movement, or conflict of antithetical forces 
out of which a higher synthesis follows, is foreshadowed when he speaks 
of the struggle in Egmont. Here the attractive but undisciplined spirit 
of freedom of the Dutch falls before the hated despotism of the Spaniard; 
but the final result, Goethe says, will be a third condition, which will meet 
the desires of all. Thus he speaks of "das Daemonische was von beiden 
Seiten im Spiel ist, in welchem Conflict das Liebenswuerdige untergeht 
und das Gehasste triumphirt, sodann die Aussicht, das hieraus ein Drittes 
hervorgehe, das dem Wunsch aller Menschen entsprechen werde." 1 

Goethe also realized the power of the mass in compelling even the great 
individual's action, as is suggested in Margarete von Parma's words, "Was 
sind wir Grossen auf der Woge der Menschheit? Wir glauben sie zu 
beherrschen, und sie treibt uns auf und nieder, hin und her." 2 This power, 
he believes, is seen especially in the influence of the environment in molding 
the individual; he recognizes a constant struggle between individual and 
milieu in the development of character, and being born ten years sooner or 
later makes a difference. 3 Therefore he consciously gave in Goetz a rich 
and varied picture of the time in which the hero lived; he speaks of having 
presented him in his "Zeitumgebung." 4 From this point of view he criti- 
cizes Shakespeare because his Romans are only Englishmen. He speaks 
of having aimed to show that the external forces which had produced 
Goetz's " anarchischen Freiheitssinn" were the result of "jener Zeit- 
epoche." 5 

Nevertheless Goethe's chief interest in these plays was individualistic, 
not corporate. Goetz and Egmont were singled out as symbolic types in 
which their respective world-epochs were mirrored. 6 Of Egmont he says, 
"und als Hauptfigur, um welche sich alle uebrigen am gluecklichsten 
versammeln liessen, war mir Graf Egmont aufgefallen, dessen menschlich 
ritterliche Groesse mir am meisten behagte." 7 Similarly, in Goethe's 

* Wahrheit und Dichtung, XX (W.-A., XXIX, 175 f-)- 

2 Egmont, I, sc. 2. 

3 Goethe, Gedichte, "Urworte Orphisch"; Mencke-Glueckert, Goethe als Ge- 
schichtsphilosoph, 77. 

4 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XII (W.-A., XXVIII, 123). 

s Graef, Goethe ueber seine Dichtungen; Drama, III, 78. 

6 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XLX, end (W.-A., XXLX, 162). 

7 Ibid., XX (W.-A., XXIX, 174 f.). 



20 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

theory of historic advance, the great individual seems to him to be the real 
mover. 1 

Goethe has some realization of the fact that the structure of the historic 
drama makes different technical demands than does the "tragedy"; 
he says that in working on Goetz he felt himself driven to the "historische 
Behandlungsart," and he recognized that this was due to the effort to 
give the events accurately. 2 He says, "Meine Einbildungskraft dehnte sich 
dergestalt aus, dass auch meine dramatische Form alle Theatergrenzen 
ueberschritt und sich den lebendigen Ereignissen zu naehern suchte." 
He makes quite a point of having desired to give true history. "Meine 
dramatische Form [suchte] sich den lebendigen Ereignissen mehr und mehr 
zu naehern." 3 "Ich hielt mich sehr treu an die Geschichte, und strebte 
nach moeglicher Wahrheit." 4 He says that when he altered Goetz to give 
to this play more unity, he "suchte ihm immer mehr historischen und 
nationalen Gehalt zu geben, und das, was daran fabelhaft oder bloss 
leidenschaftlich war, auszuloeschen." 5 He also speaks of having carefully 
studied the sources of the subjects of the two dramas. 6 Even in treating 
the mass he demands accuracy of individualization, for he criticizes Shake- 
speare because "his Romans are only Englishmen."? Nevertheless he 
has no respect for historic character or fact if he is more interested in a 
certain type of personality. So he changes Egmont, desiring to illustrate 
in him "Das Daemonische," 8 and vigorously defends the right to make 
changes from historic truth. 9 

After Goetz and Egmont, Goethe lost his interest in the definitely indi- 
vidualized, bewildering manifoldness of historic life, and sought rather 
a principle that would help him to unify phenomena; so he finds a type, 
an "Urtypus" which appears in age after age, to be modified, but not 
changed, by the definite milieus. 1 - This is, indeed, very different from 
the rationalist conception of types isolated from an environment, yet it 
leads him away from the realistic movement-drama, especially as he thinks 
that individualized history is not poetical. 

1 Mencke-Glueckert, 67, 84; Goethe, Gedichte, "Sprueche in Prosa," 272; 
Materialien zur Geschichte der Farbenlehre (W.-A.) II, 3. 
* Wahrheit und Dichtung, XIII (W.-A., XXVIII, 197). 
3 Ibid. 4 Eck., I, 128. 

5 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XIII (W.-A., XXVIII, 200). 

6 Ibid., XX (W.-A., XXIX, 174). 

7 Eck., Ill, 226. 

8 Wahrheit und Dichtung, XX (W.-A., XXIX, 174 f.). 

Eck., I, 225. 10 Cf. Mencke-Glueckert. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 21 

Es ist gar keine Frage dass wenn die Geschichte das simple Faktum, den 
nackten Gegenstand hergibt, und der Dichter Stoff und Behandlung, so ist man 
besser und bequemer dran, als wenn man sich des ausfuehrlicheren und um- 
staendlicheren der Geschichte bedienen soil; denn da wird man immer genoetigt 
das Besondere des Zustandes aufzunehmen; man entfemt sich von dem rein 
Menschlichen, und die Poesie kommt ins Gedraenge. 1 

Not only individuals but also the epochs of history are conceived in 
their typical significance, as ever-returning stages of a Kreislauf in historic 
development. 2 If, when he speaks of the Natuerliche Tochter as a 
" Kuenstlerversuch, der nach einer Aunoesung einer noch nie geloesten 
Aufgabe strebte," 3 one remembers that he meant to represent the genesis 
of a revolution, it seems as though he were here thinking of it as a repre- 
sentative of the symbolical, typical process-drama, and of this type as a 
new conception. 

Goethe, on the whole, believes in the determinism of the individual, and 
contrasts himself with Schiller in this respect, saying, "Er predigte das 
Evangelium der Freiheit, ich wollte die Rechte der Natur nicht verkuerzt 
wissen." 4 Goethe finds it impossible to solve the problem of the relation 
between the volition of the individual's given nature, and his volition as 
determined by environment on the one hand, and the all-compelling laws 
of external nature on the other hand; he accepts each of these phases as a 
reality in the molding of man's life. In Urworte Or phis ch he says under 
" Daemon, " that from birth man develops "nach dem Gesetz wonach du 
angetreten. So musst du sein, dir kannst du nicht entfliehen." He then 
says, under "Tyche," "Die strenge Grenze doch umgeht gefaellig Ein 
Wandelndes, das mit und um uns wandelt; Nicht einsam bleibst du, 
bildest dich gesellig." Finally, under "Ananke" he writes, "Da ist's 
denn wieder, wie die Sterne wollten, Bedingung und Gesetz, und aller 
Wille Ist nur ein Wollen, weil wir eben sollten, Und vor dem Willen 
schweigt die Willkuer stille." Man's given nature, his "entschiedene 
Natur," he identifies with fate; 5 he likes best to call it "das Daemonische," 
and considers it to be a mysterious expression of the all-compelling, uncom- 
prehended laws of nature. Although his "entschiedene Natur" leads 
man blindly "da oder dorthin," he says concerning "Nature," "Man 

1 An Schiller, August 21, 1799. 

2 Cf. Mencke-Glueckert. 

3 Eck. I, 256; Graef, Goethe ueber seine Dichtungen; Drama, III, 537-55. 

4 In the essay "Einwirkung der neueren Philosphie" contained in the group of 
essays Zur Naturwissenschaft im Allgemeinen in the volume Naturwissenschaftliches. 

5 An Schiller, April 26, 1797. 



22 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

gehorcht ihren Gesetzen, auch wenn man ihnen widerstrebt; man wirkt 

mit ihr, auch wenn man gegen sie wirken will Sie ist listig, aber 

zum guten Ziele Alles ist ihre Schuld, alles ist ihr Verdienst." 1 

This last point reminds one of Hegel's words on "die List der Vernunft." 2 
Again Goethe says, "Nach ewigen, ehernen Grossen Gesetzen Muessen 
wir alle Unseres Daseins Kreise vollenden." 3 Temporal justice does not 
characterize this world-law. "Auch so das Glueck Tappt unter die 
Menge, Fasst bald des Knaben Lockige Unschuld, Bald auch den kahlen 
Schuldigen Scheitel." 4 

In harmony with these views, Goethe applied no theory of guilt and 
merited catastrophe to the plot of the drama. In Goetz he desired to show 
just the helplessness and defeat of the "well-meaning " individual. 5 Here? 
as in Egmont, he carries out the idea which is expressed much later, and which 
has been partially quoted above, that "im Trauerspiel kann und soil das 
Schicksal, oder welches einerlei ist, die entschiedene Natur des Menschen, 
die ihn blind da oder dorthin fuehrt, walten und herrschen." 6 Thus 
Goethe realized the inevitableness of human action as determined by 
character and environment, and felt the deep tragic quality that lies in 
historic actuality and necessity, unmodified by any theory of tragic guilt 
and recompense. 

Goethe's knowledge and love of history thus led to the writing of 
Goetz, Egmont, Faust I, Die natuerliche Tochter, and he suggests many 
points that are of vital importance in the development of the conception 
of the historic drama; yet he never worked out a definite theory of this 
species. It must be confessed that his interest in the dominating indi- 
viduals was greater than his historic interest in movements, and that his 
interest in them as types of character became so absorbing that he inten- 
tionally disregarded and changed known historic fact. Nevertheless, when 
one compares these three dramas and his theories with those of Lessing, 
one recognizes easily the gulf that separates the two men; the importance 
and originality of Goethe's achievement, and his dominating position in 
the story of the development of the historic drama. 7 

1 In Zur Naturwissenschaft im Allgemeinen, the essay "Ueber die Natur." 

2 See p. 7. 

3 Goethe, Gedichte, "Das Goettliche." * Ibid., "Urworte Orphisch." 
s Wahrheit und Dichtung (W.-A., XXVIII, 123). 

6 An Schiller, April 26, 1797. 

7 The fact that Goethe's remarks on Goetz and Egmont all belong to a much 
later period, does not, I think, invalidate the conclusions drawn from them. Nor 
does the fact that his views on the subject of nature and determinism varied at different 
times affect the present argument. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 23 

The chief contributions made by Goethe to the theory of the historic 
drama are: (1) the discovery that complex historic material in the drama 
can be unified and organized by conceiving of it as a conflict of opposed 
historic tendencies; (2) the idea that broad and accurate mass setting is 
necessary; (3) the substitution of historic inevitableness for narrow logical 
motivation and for the connection of catastrophe with guilt. 

Schiller was a historian as well as a poet, and with this equipment 
comes to his task of writing drama. His conception of history was in the 
main that of the pragmatist who is interested most in leading 
individuals, 1 who deduces motives of action from individuals 
rather than from conditions, 2 and who uses history for the purpose of 
teaching lessons. He shared with the rationalists the realization of causal 
connection and teleology, and accepted Kant's formulation of the principle 
of development. "Unser menschliches Jahrhundert herbeizufuehren 
haben sich alle vorhergehenden Zeitalter angestrengt." 3 Schiller's atti- 
tude toward life determines the nature of his interest in history. He says, 
"das Leben ist nie fuer sich selbst, .... nie als Zweck, nur als Mittel 
zur Sittlichkeit wichtig." 4 So he sees in history a great struggle of 
the natural forces with one another and with man's moral freedom, a 
struggle which leads on to a gradual attainment of full freedom. 

Die Welt als historischer Gegenstand ist im Grunde nichts anderes als der 
Conflict der Naturkraef te unter einander selbst und mit der Freiheit des Menschen, 
und den Erfolg dieses Kampfes berichtet uns die Geschichte. 5 Aus diesem 

Gesichtspunkte .... ist mir die Weltgeschichte ein erhabenes Object 

Die Weltgeschichte ist desshalb von Interesse weil sie Muster des Erhabenen 
geben kann. 6 

Thus hjstory seems merely to give examples of distinguished individuals 
who showed this struggle. It served as "ein Magazin" for his " Phantasie." 7 

1 An Koerner, April 15, 1786. Schiller enjoys the Thirty Years' War because 
it was a time of great men. 

2 Cf. F. Ueberweg, Schiller als Historiker und Philosophy 114. 

3 An Koerner, June 7, 1788. Schiller believes that he can find a "Notwendig- 
keit" in the seeming " Willkuer" of history. Compare Ueberweg, 106. See Schiller's 

Was heisst und zu welchem Ende studirt man Universalgeschichte," Bellermann's 
Schillers Werke, Vol. XIII. Ueberweg, 107, says that Schiller came more and more 
to appreciate the "Vorstufen" as well as the eighteenth-century consummation. This 
is seen in his essay on the Crusades. 

4"Ueber den Grund des Vergnuegens an tragischen Gegenstaenden," Beller- 
mann, VIII, 22. 

s "Ueber das Erhabene," Bellermann, VIII, 430. 

6 "Was heisst und zu welchem Ende," etc. 

7 An Caroline von Beulewitz, December 10, 1788. 



24 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

To Koerner he writes that history will be the "Magazin woraus ich 
schoepfe." 1 He found, then, in history, illustrations of "das Erhabene," 
and this "Erhabene," which was the raison d'&re of life and human history, 
is the subject of "tragedy." 2 

More consciously than Goethe, Schiller desired almost always to write 
a "tragedy." This meant to him the presentation of suffering, 3 in order 
to awaken pity and fear, especially pity; 4 the deeper purpose is to give 
an example of the struggle of man's moral nature with his physical nature, 
in order to show man's "moralische Independenz von Naturgesetzen," 5 
and thereby, since "das Pathetische . . . . ist eine Inoculation des 
unvermeidlichen Schicksals wodurch es seiner Boesartigkeit beraubt .... 
wird," 6 to teach man to transcend the physical compulsion in order 
to affirm the moral necessity. 

This attitude of Schiller's toward history and the drama makes it a 
matter of course that he agrees with Aristotle and Lessing on the relation 
between history and the drama. 7 Of Aristotle he says, 

Wie er die Poesie und die Geschichte mit einander vergleicht, und jener eine 

groessere Wahrheit zugesteht, das hat mich .... gefreut Es ist gleich- 

falls recht gescheidt, was er zum Vorteil wahrer historischer Namen bei drama- 
tischen Personen sagt. 8 

He opposes "servile gemeine Naturnachahmung im Drama." 9 Again 
he says, 

Der Neuere schlaegt sich muehselig mit Zufaelligkeiten und Nebendingen 
herum, und ueber dem Bestreben, der Wirklichkeit recht nahe zu kommen, 
beladet er sich mit dem Leeren und Unbedeutenden, und darueber laeuft er 
Gefahr, die tiefliegende Wahrheit zu verlieren, worm eigentlich alles Poetische 
liegt. Er moechte gern einen wirklichen Fall vollkommen nachahmen und 

1 An Koerner, July 27, 1788. 

3 This reminds one of Fichte's attitude toward the universe as the material of 
duty. 

3 "Ueber das Pathetische"; "Ueber die tragische Kunst"; "Ueber den Grund 
des Vergnuegens an tragischen Gegenstaenden " ; Ueber das Erhabene"; also the 
other philosophical essays, Bellermann, VIII; also many remarks in letters. 

4 In "Ueber die tragische Kunst," especially on pp. 48, 50, 53, 54. 

5 "Ueber das Pathetische," Bellermann, VIII, 119; "Ueber das Erhabene," 
ibid., 430. 

6 "Ueber das Erhabene," ibid., 432. 

7 "Vorrede" to Fiesco, Bellermann, II, 170. Many references in the letters. 

8 An Goethe, May 10, 1797. 

9 Ibid., December 29, 1797. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 25 

bedenkt nicht, dass eine poetische Darstellung mit der Wirklichkeit, eben darum, 
weil sie absolut wahr ist, niemals coincidiren kann. 1 

Just so Schiller had sought even in history not the ordinary "historische 
Wahrheit," but the "philosophische" or "Kunstwahrheit." 2 He writes, 
"Selbst an wirklichen Begebenheiten historischer Personen ist nicht die 
Existenz, sondern das durch die Existenz kund gewordene Vermoegen das 
Poetische." 3 In consequence of this he expects to be a poor source for 
later historians to refer to, "aber ich werde vielleicht auf Unkosten der 
historischen Wahrheit Leser und Hoerer finden." 4 
He complains that it is narrow 

den Tragoediendichter unter das Tribunal der Geschichte zu ziehen, .... der 
sich schon vermoege seines Namens bloss zu Ruehmngen .... verbindlich 
macht. 5 .... Die Tragoedie .... ist poetische Nachahmung einer mitleids- 
wuerdigen Handlung, und dadurch wird sie der historischen entgegengesetzt. Das 
wuerde sie sein, wenn sie ... . darauf ausginge, von geschehenen Dingen und 
von der Art ihres Geschehens zu entwickeln. In diesem Falle muesste sie sich 
streng an historische Richtigkeit halten, weil sie einzig nur durch treue Darstellung 
des wirklich Geschehenen ihre Absicht erreichte. Aber die Tragoedie hat einen 

poetischen Zweck, sie stellt eine Handlung dar, um zu ruehren Behandelt 

sie also einen gegebenen Stoff nach diesem Zweck, so wird sie .... in der 
Nachahmung frei; sie erhaelt Macht, ja Verbindlichkeit die historische Wahrheit 
den Gesetzen der Dichtkunst unterzuordnen und den gegebenen Stoff nach ihrem 
Beduerfniss zu bearbeiten. 6 

Although he almost always selects the subjects of his dramas from 
history, he thinks it best 

immer nur die allgemeine Situation, die Zeit, und die Personen aus der Geschichte 
zu nehmen, und alles Uebrige poetisch frei zu ernnden, wodurch eine mittlere 
Gattung von Stoffen entstuende, welche die Vorteile des historischen Dramas mit 
dem erdichteten vereinigte. 7 

Thus he openly disclaims wanting to write a real historic drama, as 
he had already said concerning Fiesco. 

Der Genueser Fiesco sollte zu dem Fiesco meines Trauerspiels nichts her- 
geben als den Namen und die Maske; ich bin nicht Geschichtsschreiber, und eine 

1 An Goethe, April 4, 1797. Compare also the discussion in the preface to the 
Braut von Messina. This point of the typical presentation of action and individuals 
will be discussed below. 

3 An Caroline von Beulewitz, December 10, 1788. 

3 "Ueber d. Path.," B., VIII, 144. 

4 An Car. v. B., December 10, 1788. 6 Ibid. 

5 "Ueber d. tr. K.," B., VIII, 51. 7 An Goethe, August 20, 1799. 



26 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

einzige Aufwallung, die ich durch eine gewagte Erdichtung in der Brust meiner 
Zuschauer bewirke, wiegt bei mir die strengste historische Genauigkeit auf. 1 

Schiller speaks of his own dramatic form, with its modified history, as a 
"mittlere Gattung von Stoffen," and contrasts this with the historic drama 
properly speaking, and with that which is wholly invented. 2 The purpose 
of such an historic drama would be "von geschehenen Dingen und von der 
Art ihres Geschehens zu entwickeln. In diesem Falle muesste sie sich streng 
an die historische Richtigkeit halten weil sie einzig nur durch treue Darstel- 
lung des wirklich Geschehenen ihre Zwecke erreichte." 3 An illustration 
of this type he recognizes in Fust von Stromberg, and he is forced to confess, 

Auch ist nicht zu laeugnen dass solche Compositionen, sobald man ihnen 
die poetische Wirkung erlaesst, eine andere, allerdings sehr schaetzbare, leisten, 
denn keine noch so gut geschriebene Geschichte konnte so lebhaft und so sinnlich 
in jene Zeit hineinfuehren, als dieses Stueck es tut. 4 .... So ist mir .... in 
dem .... "Fust von Stromberg" eine ganze und sprechende Vorstellung des 
Mittelalters entgegengekommen, welche offenbar nur der Effect einer blossen 
Gelehrsamkeit war. 5 

He feels that "der Umstand dass diese Personen wirklich lebten, und 
dass diese Begebenheiten wirklich erfolgten" can increase one's pleasure, 
" aber mit einem fremdartigen Zusatz." 6 His theory of the poetic naturally 
makes him deny this quality to the species; still he finds in it both value 
and pleasure. In the critique of Egmont he also praises the well-rendered 
spirit of the historic period pictured, and the accurately reproduced mass. 7 
Although Schiller recognizes a type of drama historic in purpose, he never 
endeavors to think out the full possibilities and value and laws of this 
species, and never attempts to write one, except perhaps Wilhelm Tell, where 
he feels that he must show the inevitableness of "ein beinahe indivi- 
duelles und einziges Phaenomen." 8 

Schiller had little joy in political transactions, in what he called "Staats- 
aktionen," not in history, and not in the drama. When reading Watson's 
History of the Netherlands, the spirit of freedom involved aroused an 
enthusiasm in him "zu welcher Staatsaktionen nur selten erheben"; 9 his 

1 An Goethe, August 20, 1799. 

2 "Ueber d. tr. K.," B., VIII, 51. 4 An Goethe, March 13, 1798. 

3 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 

6 "Ueber d. Path.," Bellermann, VIII, 144. 

7 "Recension ueber Egmont," ibid. 

8 An Koerner, September 9, 1802. 

9 "Vorrede" to Geschichte des Abfalls der Niederlande. 



DEDUCTION OP CHIEF PROBLEMS 27 

interest in the Thirty Years' War is due to a similar motive, and to the fact 
that it gives a picture of many great men. 1 Contrasting his own indi- 
vidualistic interest with Koerner's treatment of the Fronde and referring 
to Koerner's criticism of his History of the Revolt of the Netherlands, 
he says, "wo war ich in der Lage, ich, ein grosses historisches Ganze 
mit einem reifen Blick zu umfassen ?" 2 This inability or unwillingness to 
apprehend an historic movement as such and as a logically connected 
whole, was the cause of his dislike of political plots as such. If even in 
his historic writing he had sought to give chiefly "Kunstwahrheit," he 
felt this requirement still more in the case of his dramatic writing. The 
purely historical treatment of the past always seemed unpoetical. This 
he reiterates over and over. In the critique of Egmont he says that it is 
clear "wie wenig sich Staatsaktionen dramatisch behandeln lassen." 3 
The Wallenstein material causes him much trouble because it is 

im Grunde eine Staatsaktion, und hat, in Ruecksicht auf den poetischen Gebrauch, 
alle Unarten an sich die eine politische Handlung nur haben kann, ein unsicht- 
bares, abstraktes Object, kleine und viele Mittel, zerstreute Handlungen, einen 
furchtsamen Schritt, eine fuer den Vorteil der Poeten viel zu kalte trockene 
Zweckmaessigkeit, ohne doch diese bis zur Vollendung und dadurch zu einer 
poetischen Groesse zu treiben.* .... Du glaubst nicht, was es . . . . kostet 
. . . . eine so duerre Staatsaktion in eine menschliche Handlung umzuschaffen. s 

It requires a great deal of manipulation before it is "zur Tragoedie 
qualificirt." 6 "Nur durch eine kunstreiche Handlung kann ich ihn zu 
einer schoenen Tragoedie machen." 7 Writing about Maria Stuart, he is 
glad that the political part is previous to the play itself; 8 he speaks of his 
poetical struggle with the history in Maria Stuart, how he had to select care- 
fully what could be utilized. 9 Concerning Die Jungfrau von Orleans he 
writes, "das Historische ist ueberwunden und doch .... in seinem 
moeglichsten Umfang benutzt." 10 Wilhelm Tell also seems difficult to 
handle because it is a "Staatsaktion." 

Ob nun gleich der Tell einer dramatischen Behandlung nichts weniger als 
guenstig erscheint, da die Handlung dem Ort und der Zeit nach ganz zerstreut 

1 An K., April 15, 1786. 

2 Ibid., December 1, 1788. 

3 "Recension ueber Egmont," Bell., XIII, 301. 

4 An K., November 28, 1796. 

s Ibid., July 10, 1797. 8 An G., April 26, 1799. 

6 An G., November 18, 1796. 9 Ibid., July 19, 1799. 

7 An K., November 28, 1796. IO Ibid., December 24, 1800. 



28 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

auseinander liegt, da sie grossenteils eine Staatsaktion ist und (das Maerchen 
mit dem Hut und Apfel ausgenommen) der Darstellung widerstrebt, so habe ich 
doch bis jetzt so viel poetische Operation damit vorgenommen, dass sie aus dem 
Historischen heraus und ins Poetische eingetreten ist. 1 

Schiller's opposition to definite historic fact is connected also with his 
acceptance of the Platonic doctrine of ideas. "Was sich nie und nirgends 
hat begeben, das allein veraltet nie." 2 This is related to his interest in 
types and in the typical. "Wahrheit" and not "Wirklichkeit" has true 
existence. 3 "Die poetische Wahrheit besteht nicht darin, dass etwas 
wirklich geschehen ist, sondern darin, dass es geschehen konnte." 4 
Through his study of history he learns to know men, not the individual man, 
"die Gattung und nicht das sich so leicht verlierende Individuum." 5 In 
his review of Buerger he says, "Dichter ist wer das Individuelle und Lokale 
zum Allgemeinen erhebt." 6 To him "Personen sind allgemeine Symbole" ; 
the Greek "idealische Masken" are commended as against the "Indi- 
viduen" of Shakespeare and Goethe. 7 Shakespeare's treatment of the mass 
in Julius Caesar he praises because it is typical and because he appre- 
hends the mass as "poetisches Abstraktum," not as "Individuen." 8 The 
fact that the movement involved in Wilhelm Tell was individual rather than 
typical gave him much trouble, "weil hier ein ganzes local-begrenztes Volk, 
ein ganzes und entferntes Zeitalter, und was die Hauptsache ist, ein ganz 
oertliches, ja beinahe individuelles und einziges Phaenomen, mit dem 
Charakter der hoechsten Notwendigkeit und Wahrheit soil zur Anschauung 
gebracht werden."^ Thus in theory Schiller is opposed to giving just 
that which makes the essence of historic reality, namely the individual 
singleness of a phenomenon. For this reason the most difficult part of his 
labors, after having selected an historic theme, was the attempt to eliminate 
ever) thing that was individual in his subject, and the finding of the typical 
and symbolical meaning of the characters and plots chosen. Whenever 
he thought that he had at last cut away all political and specific elements 
and motives, he wrote rejoicingly to Koerner or Goethe. That, after all, 
he did not succeed in being absolutely typical in his treatment is shown by 

1 An K., September 9, 1802. 2 "An die Freude." 

3 An Caroline von Beulewitz, December 10, 1788; Preface to Braut von Messina; 
An G., April 4, 1797. 

4 "Ueber d. Path.," B., VIII, 144. 

5 An C. v. B., December 10, 1788, 7 An Goethe, April 4, 1797. 

6 "Ueber Buerger," Bellermann, VIII. 8 An G., April 7, 1797. 
9 An K., September 9, 1802. Otto Ludwig's Werke (Stern), V, 304. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 29 

the possibility of Otto Ludwig's criticism of Wallenstein as "krankhaft 
individuell." 1 

Lessing had demanded that the drama should not reproduce events 
as they actually happen to individuals in the real world of history where 
divine law, if understood in its large connections, could explain even the 
seemingly accidental; he had demanded that the drama should submit 
the small section of life chosen to rigid visible logical connection, so that no 
hero should be visited with an undeserved calamity. Schiller accepts this 
dictum, and explains his reason for having Fiesco punished by Verrina 
instead of allowing him to die by accident as he did in reality, in the follow- 
ing words: "Die Natur des Dramas duldet den Finger des Ungefaehrs 
.... nicht. Hoehere Geister sehen die zarten Spinnweben einer Tat 
durch die ganze Dehnung des Weltsystems laufen .... wo der Mensch 

nichts als das in freien Lueften schwebende Faktum sieht Aber 

der Kuenstler waehlt fuer das kurze Gesicht der Menschheit." 2 Similarly 
he sa>s that the higher perfection "kann in unserer jetzigen Beschraenkung 
von uns nicht gefasst werden. Wir uebersehen einen zu kleinen Teil des 
Weltalls, und die Aufloesung der groesseren Menge von Misstoenen ist 
unserem Ohr unerreichbar"; the work of art must show the causal con- 
nection. 3 

Although Schiller always tabooed chance or accident in the drama, 
still his idea of the relation between guilt and catastrophe became less 
elementary. Thus on the one hand, since the tragic existed only when 
man showed his moral independence of natural law, and his agreement with 
necessity — "Nehmt die Gottheit auf in euren Willen, und sie steigt von 
ihrem Weltentron" 4 — he demands in 1792 that the poet should present 
catastrophes as caused "durch den Zwang der Umstaende," 5 and writes, 
"so schwaecht es jeder Zeit unseren Anteil, wenn sich der Unglueckliche, 
den wir bemitleiden sollen, aus eigener unverzeihlicher Schuld ins Ver- 
derben gestuerzt hat." 6 Hence a guiltless hero — as Max in Wallenstein — 
might be visited with a catastrophe. On the other hand Schiller demands 
that even in the case of the guilty or indifferent hero — as Wallenstein — 

1 Cf. Ludwig's Werke, V, 304. 2 Vorrede to Fiesco, B., II. 

3 Philosophische Briefe, "Raphael an Julius," letzter Brief. 

4 " Das Ideal und das Leben." Cf. "Der Mensch muss .... den Begriff der 
Gewalt vernichten, obgleich er in der Tat leidet" ("Ueber d. trag. Kunst"), and 
"Die Kuenstler." "Mit dem Geschick in hoher Einigkeit empfaengt er das Geschoss 
das ihn bedraeut." 

5 "Ueber d. tr. K.," B., VIII. Viscber objected to this; see below. 

6 Ibid., 38. 



30 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

the catastrophe should be caused by external circumstances and not by 
the guilt of the hero. W allenstein was written during the first years of 
the friendship between Goethe and Schiller, when Schiller was impressed 
with Goethe's belief that in the drama the hero's given nature, whether 
moral or not, should drive him blindly hither and thither, and that this 
given nature is identical with "fate." In this sense Schiller says, "Recht 
stets behaelt das Schicksal, denn das Herz In uns ist sein gebieterischer 
Vollstrecker." 1 Accordingly Wallenstein, who, he writes, needs "ge^ade 
so viel moralischen Gehalt als noetig ist um Furcht und Mitleid zu 
erwecken," 2 lives out the impulse of his nature without giving the theoreti- 
cally demanded illustration of "das Erhabene." Like Goethe, Schiller 
sees that the given character is in part due to the historic environment, and 
so the guilt is in this case even ascribed, in its larger proportion, to what 
Schiller calls variously the "unglueckseligen Gestirne," 3 or "Umstaende," 
or "Schicksal"; in other words, to the specific historic conditions that 
determined inevitably the character and the event. 4 Only a small propor- 
tion of responsibility is left to the hero in the matter of exhibiting moral 
freedom. From a similar point of view Schiller in his Thirty Years 1 War, 
after the brilliantly pragmatic account of Wallenstein as a conscious plan- 
ner, had ended the account with a splendid historical intuition which later 
investigation has borne out, "er rebellirte weil er fiel." 5 The relation 
between guilt and punishment has, then, in the case of Wallenstein become 
very subtly confused. 

This presentation of catastrophe without guilt in the one case, and the 
shifting of the guilt in the other case, meant the acceptance in the drama as in 
life of the larger, less obvious motivation rejected for Fiesco, and led Schiller 
to a deeper analysis of simple historic actuality and necessity. The Greek at- 
titude of resignation to fate had seemed to him humiliating "fuer .... freie 
.... Wesen," 6 but at the same time he had realized that this resignation 
might consist in the " Ahndung, oder in deutlichem Bewusstsein einer teleo- 
logischen Verknuepfung der Dinge." 7 The recognition that Wallenstein 
rebelled because he had fallen — fall and rebellion and Wallenstein's character 
being necessary results of conditions — coincided, as previously stated, with 
his aim to show in tragedy the motive power of "circumstances." When first 

1 Wallensteins Tod, I, 7. 

2 An Koerner, July 13, 1800. 

3 "Prolog" to Wallenstein. 4 See following paragraph. 

5 Geschichte des dreissigjaehrigen Krieges, Book IV, end. 

6 "Ueber d. tr. K.," Bellermann, VIII, 40. 

7 Ibid. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 3 1 

working on Wallensteln he writes, "das eigentliche Schicksal tut noch zu 
wenig, und der eigene Fehler des Helden noch zu viel zu seinem Unglueck." 1 
Although he says, "Am Ende mislingt der Entwurf nur durch Ungeschick- 
lichkeit," he also adds that Wallenstein falls in consequence of the much 
more subtle combination of the "Stimmung der Armee, der Hof, der 
Kaiser." 2 He is pleased when at last he can say, "Da der Hauptcharakter 
eigentlich retardirend ist, so tun die Umstaende alles zur Krise, und dies 
wird, wie ich denke, den tragischen Eindruck sehr erhoehen." 3 In order 
to show the genetic motivation of Wallenstein's character and catastrophe 
from circumstances, he gives a picture of the army, as the "Base worauf 
Wallenstein sein Unternehmen gruendet," 4 and which "erklaeret sein 
Verbrechen." 5 Realizing that Wallenstein is "von der Zeiten Gunst 
emporgetragen," he studies the sources carefully, "denn ich musste die 
Handlung wie die Charaktere aus ihrer Zeit, ihrem Lokal, und dem ganzen 
Zusammenhang der Begebenheiten schoepfen." 6 Thus Schiller has here 
cut loose from the pragmatic, individualist motivation of events. His 
drama Wallenstein is a "character-drama," and at the same time a "milieu- 
drama." It is also a "fate-drama," but in a new and scientific sense. 

It is clear that in Schiller, as in Goethe, the demand of Boileau and 
Voltaire, that the "mceurs" should be accurate, has received a new illumi- 
nation. This presentation of mass and milieu, in order to show how out of 
these, characters and situations logically and inevitably grow, is Schiller's 
greatest contribution to the historic drama. This was a problem that 
received interesting and conscious illustration in Grabbe's work, and the 
solution of it became Hebbel's chief effort. Lessing's requirement that 
only the characters need be historically accurate is seen to be inadequate; 
his belief that the characters can be separated from the corresponding 
events and from the historic setting, in the demand for historic truth, has 
been superseded by a deeper comprehension of their necessary connection. 7 

In spite of these interesting developments, however, Schiller in the drama 
was never quite able to give up his interpretation of events according to 
his formula of morality. The hero who was unable to rise to a moral 
agreement with fate felt the full force of punishment; so Wallenstein, who 
is held responsible for the smaller proportion of his guilt, 8 and falls the 

1 An G., November 28, 1796. 
3 An K., November 28, 1796. 

3 Ibid., July 10, 1797. s "Prolog" to Wallenstein. 

4 Ibid., November 28, 1796. 6 An K., November 28, 1796. 

7 Cf. Rud. Lehmann, Der deutsche Unterricht. 

8 "Prolog" to Wallenstein. 



32 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

victim of a punishing Nemesis. A picture of Nemesis was to adorn the 
title-page of Wallenstein, 1 and concerning him Schiller wrote, "Denn wie 
jeder waeget, wird ihm gewogen." 2 Similarly, almost all of Schiller's trage- 
dies illustrate the relation of hero to morality. 

One other point of Schiller's theory of historic drama needs mention. 
Gottsched and the contributors of the Bremer Beitraege had suggested that 
poets should choose especially national subjects, as had been done in Greece. 
With this Schiller disagrees. Poetry does not exist " Nationalgefuehle in 
den Dichtern zu erwecken," and he exclaims, "Wehe dem griechischen 
Kunstgeschmack wenn er durch diese historischen Beziehungen in den 
Werken seiner Dichter erst haette gewonnen werden muessen." 3 

Before passing to the theories of the nineteenth century, a few words 
must be said concerning the " Ritterdramen " which had been so abundantly 
"Ritter- written after the publication of Goetz von Berlichingen. 

drama" it i s G f importance to note that their purpose, fortified by 

frequent archaeological accuracy, was often consciously historic. As was 
remarked by Schiller in the case of Fust von Stromberg, the writers of 
these plays thus sometimes succeeded in evoking true historic atmosphere. 
The)- missed, however, the larger meanings and conceptions of history, and 
devoted themselves chiefly to the patriotic presentation of private local 
history. This was criticized by Goethe in the words quoted above, to 
the effect that the conflicts here presented were purely private. A. W. 
Schlegel, Tieck, Grabbe, found fault with these dramas for the same reason. 

The "Ritterdramen" could not possibly satisfy the age of historic 
insight and enthusiasm that was inaugurated by Schelling and the Romanti- 
The Roman- cists. The conception that concrete history is the direct 
ticists expression of the divine mind, that it is the great work of art, 

the great " tragedy" created by the divine artist, from now on colored all 
historic and dramatic theory, and produced an entirely new reverence for 
historic phenomena in their individuality and in their relation to the great 
historic process.4 The " tragedy" was felt to be the highest form of human 
art because it was supposed to mirror the divine historic process. Aristotle, 
Lessing, Schiller, and even Goethe, had insisted that poetic truth was 
more philosophic than historic truth; thinkers now felt that both coincided. 
It was thought that no one could be a historian who was not also a poet 
and a philosopher; for the chief demand made of him was that he should 
discover the eternal meaning of concrete history, namely its "idea." 

1 An G., December i, 1797. 2 "Thekla." 

3 "Ueber d. Path.," B., VIII, 145. 

4 Cf. A. Poetzsch, Studien zur fruehromantischen Politik und Geschichtsauffassung. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 33 

Similarly the poet's greatest mission was thought to be the artistic inter- 
pretation of real history . 

The problem of the relation between the individual and the universe, 
between freedom and necessity, is made by Schelling and the Romanticists 
more than ever the central problem of thought. As Poetzsch has shown, 
Friedrich Schlegel and the early Romanticists are of great importance in 
the developing of the interest for the individual phenomenon in its single- 
ness as well as in its relation to the whole. They finally broke through the 
rationalist conception of men as isolated types. They are in contrast, also, 
with Goethe, to whom single phenomena are ever-varying forms of one 
"Urtyp" and in whose philosophy and later poetry the chief stress is laid 
on "das Ewig-Eine," that is, on the eternal, and not the fleeting element 
to be found in all its individual and temporal embodiments. Inasmuch as 
they first recognized fully and consciously how much the single individual 
is bound to the past and to the present, how absolutely he is determined 
by his race and his age, and because they, unlike Goethe, are impressed 
by the fleeting and not the eternal elements in the individual phenomena, 
they lay stress on the fact that the human type of different ages varies, that 
it is constantly modified by the definite soil of the age and race in which it 
is rooted, and out of which it grows. The mass back of the individual 
is seen to be not a mere aggregate of individuals, but an organism, with 
soul-consciousness, which must be carefully studied. Closely connected 
with these insights is the deeper comprehension of necessity, the definite 
realization that the individual is borne along by the great stream of history, 
that the seeming initiator of an action is only a link in a great chain. 

These views led to a fondness for historic subjects, and A. W. Schlegel 
and Tieck both suggested that dramatists should choose their themes from 
history. They demanded historic accuracy in the handling of these sub- 
jects. Tieck was able to appreciate historic dramas whose aim was not 
history, whose interest was passionate rather than political, 1 and he elabo- 
rately defended the patriotic and unhistorical tendency of Kleist in his Her- 
manns schlacht. 2 Yet he regretted that Schiller had given the fortune of a 

1 Tieck, Kritische Schriften, III, 33. 

2 Ibid., II, 41. "Kleist hatte nicht die Absicht, jene alte Zeit, ihre Charaktere 
und Verhaeltnisse auszumalen, sondern, was einem Dichter eben so natuerlich und 
erlaubt ist: er sah, von der Gegenwart bedraengt, in diesem Spiegel die Vorzeit, er 
nahm diese nur als Bild seiner Zeit und der naechsten Verhaeltnisse; so knuepfte er 
seinen persoenlichen Hass und seine lebendige Liebe an alte Namen, und hielt seinen 
Zeitgenossen das Konterfei ihrer selbst und ihrer Schicksale vor. Diese Art Geschichte 
zu nehmen, ist am wenigsten am dramatischen Dichter zu tadeln, wenn er nur von 
seinem Gegenstande auf eine grosse Weise ergriffen .... ist." 



34 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

single hero, and not the Thirty Years' War, 1 and said that a drama is "urn 
so poetischer und urn so groesser, . . . . je naeher es sich der Wahrheit 
halte," and "die Dichtkunst kann schwerlich glaenzender auftreten, 
als wenn sie auf diese Weise eins mit der wahren Wirklichkeit wird." 2 
Solger, also, on the whole, demanded accuracy, and Jean Paul wrote 
"Wozu .... geschichtliche Namen, wenn die Charaktere umgegossen 
werden duerfen?" 3 

The consciousness of the necessity of social background, together 
with the romantic theory of literature as an expression of infinity, helped 
to relax the rules of strict logical motivation, and to make the structure of a 
play more loosely organic than the rationalist drama had been. The 
intensive study of Shakespeare, particularly of his historic dramas, fed 
this tendency. Scenes that reflect mood and mere historic environment 
were now freely accepted. Wallensteins Lager was universally hailed as a 
masterpiece of historic setting, but it was no longer thought necessary to 
separate from the rest of a drama even so full a study of the environment. 

The realization that individuals are the product of conditions of environ- 
ment caused the Romanticists to prefer a guiltless hero and an unmerited 
catastrophe. Thus Tieck did not feel that it is necessary to connect down- 
fall with guilt, and A. W. Schlegel took a similar position. 4 

Tieck and Schlegel both advised the choosing of national subjects; 
and both thought that the subjects chosen should have more than provincial, 
or sectionally patriotic, interest. 5 Schlegel, inspired by the example of 
Shakespeare's Histories as Goethe had been when he wrote Goetz, suggested 
especially the period of the Hohenstauffen. 

Grillparzer, roused by what he called the "Albernheiten" of "Ludwig 
Tieck und seine Nachbetter," 6 and by the modern aesthetic theorists who, 
. . ne sa y s > recommend history as the only proper subject for 
tragedy because it is the direct expression of the "Welt- 
geist,"' contends that "der Dichter waehlt historische Stoffe weil er darin 
den Keim zu seinen Entwicklungen findet." 8 Earlier he had said con- 
cerning Sappho: 

i Tieck, Kritische Schriften, III, 43. 2 Ibid., Ill, 42. 

3 Jean Paul, "Vorschule der Aesthetik," in Werke, 2. Auflage 501. 

4 Tieck, Kritische Schriften; A. W. Schlegel, Vorlesungen ueber dramatischc 
Kunst; Paul Reiff, "Views of Tragedy among the Early German Romanticists," 
in Modern Language Notes, November and December, 1904. 

5 A. W. Schlegel, Vorlesungen ueber dramatische Kunst, Vorlesung 31; Tieck, 
Kritische Schriften, II, 50. 

6 Grillparzer s saemtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Sauer, XIX, 108. 
1 Ibid., XV, 91. 8 Ibid., XIX, 108. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 35 

Damals herrschten noch Lessings, Schillers, Goethes, Ansichten in der 
deutschen Poesie, und dass menschliche Schicksale und Leidenschaften die 
Aufgabe des Dramas seien, fiel niemand ein zu bezweifeln. Das Antiquarische, 
Geographische, Historische .... ward dadurch von selbst zur Staffage und 
ordnete sich dem Menschlichen unter. 1 

Although he speaks of his thorough studies for Ottokar and of the agree- 
ment with actual history in this work, he says that he mentions this simply 
as "Kuriositaet." 2 At the same time he later defends his conception 
of Ottokar's not noble character as truer to history than the conception of 
him that Bohemian patriots had. 3 He says also, "Ein historisches Drama 
in dem Sinn statuiren wollen, dass der Wert desselben .... in der 
voellig treuen Wiedergabe der Geschichte besteht, ist . . . . laecherlich." 4 

One may ask for the reason why the poet uses history as repertory for 
his own developments, and Grillparzer answers in a way that suggests 
the point where he began to feel the need of reconstruction of traditional 
ideas. He says that the poet does this "urn seinen Ereignissen und Per- 

sonen .... einen Schwerpunkt der Realitaet zu geben Nament- 

lich was ueber das gewoehnlich Glaubliche hinausgeht, muss einen solchen 
Anhaltspunkt haben, wenn es nicht laecherlich werden soil." 5 Whereas 
Schiller believed in "Kunstwahrheit" to such an extent that an historic 
fact was rejected if it seemed poetically impossible, Grillparzer accepts 
the recorded seemingly improbable event, and is glad to be able to hold 
up to skeptical mankind this security of the truth of the event offered in 
the drama. " Alexander der Grosse, Napoleon, als erdichtete Personen, 
wuerden der Spott aller Vernuenftigen sein." 6 "Das wirklich Wahre" 
in his eyes is not Schiller's typical " Kunstwahrheit," but consists in the 
apprehension of the motives and developments that produce events, as 
well as of the events themselves. 7 

Very interesting is his struggle with the problem of the logical motiva- 
tion of events in nature or history, and in the drama, connected as this is 
with the problem of fate. Grillparzer had a strong consciousness of the 
arbitrariness of man's passions and actions and of the interplay of natural 
forces, and therefore found it difficult to discover law in the seeming uncon- 
nectedness of history, "eine umfassende Notwendigkeit des Geschehenen." 8 
Man, in spite of the causality and plan that his mind reads into the march 

1 Grillparzers saemtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Sauer, XIX, 74. 
* Ibid., 109. s Ibid., XIX, 108. 

3 Ibid., 117. 6 Ibid., 108. 

4 Ibid., XV, 92. 7 Ibid., 108. 
8 Zur Geschichte im Allgemeinen. 



3^ DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

of history, 1 can succeed in finding plan only in long periods, 2 and even 
then can never discover all the connecting links. 3 This unexplained 
residue, or "X,"4 he calls "Schicksal," or if one will, "Vorsehung."* It is 
identical with the "aeussere Umstaende" that are independent of man's 
free will, 6 and indeed with natural law or necessity ;? it is the "Personifica- 
tion der Naturnotwendigkeit," a "Welttropus." 8 The arbitrary specific 
passion-impulses are then in reality determined ultimately by the " Um- 
staende" or "Schicksal" or "Naturnotwendigkeit." 9 

Unter dem notwendigen wird hier alles dasjenige verstanden, was unab • 
hangig von der Willensbestimmung des Menschen, in der Natur oder durch 
andere seinesgleichen geschieht, und was, durch die unbezweifelte Einwirkung 
auf die untem, unwillkiirlichen Triebfedern seiner Handlungen, die Aeusserun- 
gen seiner Taetigkeit zwar nicht noetigend, aber doch anregend bestimmt. 

Ottokar and Napoleon were "durch Umstaende zur Tyrannei getrieben." 10 
This analysis of Grillparzer's seems directly in harmony with Schelling, 
who wrote that historic writing must aim to show the identity between 
freedom and necessity "wie sie vom Gesichtspunkt der Wirklicheit aus 
erscheint, den sie auf keine Weise verlassen soil. Von diesem aus ist sie 
aber nur als unbegriffene und ganz objektive Identitaet erkennbar, als 
Schicksal." Schelling likewise identifies "Schicksal" and "Vorsehung." 
Grillparzer at first thinks that the drama should show strict visible 
causal connection, 

Das Wesen des Dramas ist ... . strenge Causalitaet. Im Lauf der wirk- 
lichen Welt bescheiden wir uns dass .... was sich fuer uns in die stetige 
Kette von Ursache und Wirkung nicht fuegt .... einen uns unbegreiflichen 
Zusammenhang habe. 11 .... Die Aufgabe der dramatischen Poesie gegenueber 
der Geschichte besteht hauptsaechlich darin, das sie die Planmaessigkeit und 
Ganzheit welche die Geschichte nur in grossen Partieen und Zeitraeumen blicken 
laesst, auch in dem Raum der kleinen gewaehlten Begebenheit anschaulich 
macht. 12 

Hence he has a prejudice against the historic drama because its form is 
more epic in consequence of the fact that the events are widely separated. 13 

1 Werke, XV, 92. 

2 Ibid., 92. 8 Ibid., 100, 101. 

3 Ibid., 95. 9 Ibid., 87. 

4 Ibid., XVI, 57. IO Ibid., XIX, 107. 

5 Ibid., XV, 93. " Ibid., XV, 86. 

6 Ibid., 101, 93 (1837-79). I2 Ibid., 92. 

7 Ibid., 100 (1845). I3 Ibid., XIX, 109. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 37 

The use of "Schicksal" in the drama had meant to him merely the symbol 
of that causal connection whose missing links he had not been able to find 
in their entirety. His labor on Ottokar and his study of Shakespeare led 
him to accept the lack of causal connection in the drama as a fault, but a 
probably necessary fault, "ein Fehler .... dem man im historischen 
Drama, wo die Begebenheiten sich draengen, und der Raum mangelt, 
ueberhaupt schwer entgehen kann." 1 As early as in 1821 he had said 
"Die Konsequenz der Leidenschaften ist das Hoechste, was gewoehnliche 
Dramatiker zu schildern, und gewoehnliche Kunstrichter zu wuerdigen 
wissen, aber erst die aus der Natur gegriffenen Inkonsequenzen bringen 
Leben in das Bild." 2 Since these are " Inkonsequenzen " of nature herself, 
the drama can give them as such, if only it fills us nevertheless with a feeling 
of faith that behind the seeming incongruence is the great incomprehensible 
causality of nature. 3 So he says finally that the showing of this lack of 
congruence between cause and effect is the highest mission of the poet, 
although it is a technique to be attempted only in the historic drama, where 

der Weltgeist den Begebenheiten Gewaehr leistet und fuer die Endpunkte ein- 
steht. 4 .... Wie in der Natur sich hoechst selten Ursache und Wirkung 
ganz decken, so ist, in der Behandlung eine gewisse Inkongruenz beider durch- 
blicken zu lassen, vielleicht die hoechste Aufgabe, die sich ein Dichter stellen 
kann. 5 .... Mich hat schon seit lange ein gewisser Ekel vor dem eng psy- 
chologischen Anreihen und Anfaedeln erfasst. Was ich da niedergeschrieben, 
klingt wohl ein bischen wie Unsinn; ich bin mir aber nur noch nicht klar 
genug, und will das Ganze einmal in der Folge ausfuehren. 6 

Grillparzer, probably stimulated by Schelling, sees in the drama a con- 
flict between "Freiheit" and "Notwendigkeit," the " Notwendigkeit " 
being, as shown above, the "Umstaende" or "Schicksal." 7 Without 
disbelieving in "Freiheit" — he asserts the contrary 8 — he feels so strongly 
"die Einwirkung dieser aeusseren Triebfedern," 9 that unlike the "Neueren" 
who usually give the victory to man's freedom, he like Goethe feels inclined 
to let the natural passions and their necessity be the victorious force in 
the production of man's actions, since, he thinks, the pity and fear that are 
thus awakened purge us from our " naturnotwendige Leidenschaften"; 10 
if in tragedy wrong is victorious, the morality of the world-order is not 

1 Werke, XVI, 167. 6 md. 

* Ibid., XV, 102. 7 Ibid., XV, 87. 

3 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 

4 Ibid., XVIII, 188. Ibid. 

s Ibid. 10 Selbstb., 186. 



38 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

thereby abrogated. The fall of the righteous and the victory of the unright- 
eous are a matter of actuality, and this may be reflected in the drama; 
if the beholder has faith in religion and the race-compensation of history, 
the lack of visible reconciliation will not prevent his purgation, "so wird 
euch das zerschmetternde Schicksal .... erheben." 1 

Grillparzer was a thorough student of history, but like the pragmatist 
he was interested chiefly in striking individuals, 2 and saw in history the 
teacher of humanity ; for, inasmuch as it gives a picture of man as impelled 
by his passions, it warns us to avoid being similarly controlled. 3 It was 
this same lesson that was to be learned from the drama. He believes 
that human nature remains the same through all the ages, and that the 
seeming differences lie merely in the external circumstances (cf. Redlich, 
11 ff.). 

Grillparzer has little sympathy for the mass; still he opposes strongly 
Metternich's belief that history can be made in "Cabinetten abseits von 
Voelkern," 4 and he concedes that "In der politischen Geschichte ist das 
Volk (oder wenn ich die Besten weggenommen habe) der Poebel, nicht 
ohne Bedeutung." 5 

The traditional laws of motivation and unity of action gave Immermann 
much trouble. Speaking of his Friedrich II (1828), he writes, 

Ich will zugeben, dass nicht jede folgende Handlung sich 
als aeusserlich greifbares Product einer frueheren ausspricht, 
ferner, dass manche Scenen und Nebenfiguren den Charakter zu genauer Aus- 
malung an sich zu tragen scheinen. 6 

He says that the unity is given by Frederick's opposition to the church. 
In Alexis he tries to bring into the foreground "das Interesse," Peter's 
personal and family catastrophe, and minimizes "die Interessen," the 
background of the intrigues of the nobles; finally he separates the plot 
of the nobles from the rest of the drama in the form of an introductory 
play. 7 As to historic accuracy he says, 

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich dem Dichter gern die hoechste Freiheit bei der 
Behandlung des historisch Gegenbenen bewahren moechte. 8 

1 Werke, XV, 88. 

3 Redlich, Grillparzers Verhaeltniss zur Geschichte. 

3 Werhe, XVI, 16. 

4 Politische Studien. 
s Werhe, XVI, 18. 

6 An Beer, June 13, 1828; Immermanns Werke, XVII, 157. 

7 Ibid., XV, 172. 8 iud., 172. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 39 

However, in speaking of his Andreas Hofer, he writes, 

Ich schaute nach der Urgestalt der Ereignisse hin, .... tilgte die klein- 
lichen sentimentalen Motive welche der frueheren Arbeit (Das Trauerspiel in 
Tirol) schadeten, und wagte, das Werk auf ehrliche historische Fuesse zu stellen. 
Ich halte ueberhaupt viel von der Geschichte, nur steht sie fuer mich kaum zur 
Haelfte in den Compendien geschrieben. 1 

When Raumer had written his history of the Hohenstauffen (1823-25), 
Immermann was the first to attempt to carry out Schlegel's suggestion. 
He planned a cycle of Hohenstauffen, but only wrote a Frederick II (1828). 
He later explained his renunciation in words written at the time when 
Raupach's endless series almost monopolized the stage at Berlin. It is a 
mistake to believe, he writes, that 

historisch-dramatische Poesie sei dort schon vorhanden, wo nur irgend ein 
Kapitel der Geschichte treu und unverfaelscht in Dialog und Versen auf den 

Brettern verhandelt werde Ein historisches Trauerspiel .... kann nur 

entstehen, wenn der Dichter einen Stoff der Geschichte ergreift, welche fuer das 
Volk Geschichte ist, wenn er von den Ereignissen der Vergangenheit begeistert 
wird die in den Freuden und Schmerzen der Gegenwart .... noch nachklingen 
So konnte Shakespeare seine Buergerkriege dichten, weil die Blutflecke kaum 
gebleicht waren von den Steinen an denen die Haeupter der Parteien ihr Leben 

veratmet hatten Ich sage nur noch dass die Geschichte welche unseren 

Dichtern moeglicherweise StofTe darbieten kann, erst mit der Reformation und 
den ihr unmittelbar vorausgegangenen Zeiten beginnen moechte. 2 

In these last remarks he broaches another point connected with the 
historic drama, namely, the feasibility of choosing subjects from modern 
and even contemporary history. Although this had been done since the days 
of Marlowe's Massacre of Paris, it happened rarely enough for Immermann 
to feel that the writing of his Andreas Hofer was an entirely new departure. 
He writes, 

Das Wagniss, noch lebende oder juengst verstorbene Personen in poetische 
zu verwandeln, bewegte mich so, dass ich damals oft in der Nacht von Schreck 
erwachte und dann die Vorwuerfe der Tiroler und der franzoesischen Befehls- 
haber zu hoeren vermeinte. Spaeterhin ist diese Kuehnheit oefter geuebt wor- 
den, zuletzt von Grabbe in den Hundert Tagen. 5 

The same belief that was held by Schiller, that a " Staatsaktion " is 
not a proper subject for a drama, because unpoetical action in itself can 
never be interesting, is found in his final reasons for discontinuing the 

1 Ibid., XVII, 472. 

2 Memorabilien, II, 20. 3 "Vorrede zu Schriften," Werke, I. 



40 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

Hohenstaujfen. "Ihre Kaempfe und Noete gehen fast saemtlich nicht 
aus den allgemein verstaendlichen, ewig haltbaren Motiven des Hasses, 
Zorns, der Rache, Eifersucht, Liebe, u.s.w., sondern aus politisch-religioesen 
Combinationen hervor .... an denen wir nur noch einen gelehrten 
Anteil nehmen koennen." 1 This sort of motivation in which Immermann 
believes is clearly the pragmatic motivation spoken of in connection with 
the remarks on historic method. As long as dramatists had a prejudice 
against a different motivation as unpoetical, they would not be likely to 
write anything but individualistic drama. 

Immermann's comprehension of historic method, however — as is 
shown indeed by the very fact that he comprehended the real motives, at 
least to some extent, in the case of the Hohenstaufjen — was in reality far 
more advanced. He had a strong feeling for the importance of the mass. 
Writing in 1839-40, he speaks of the fact that the war of liberation from 
Napoleon in 181 3 had been begun and waged by the people, without 
initiative from above; that there had been no need of a great leading 
individual because all individuals had devoted themselves to the national 
cause; 2 and he commends a remark of Niebuhr's that "das Volk 
.... regierte in jener Zeit." 3 He then speaks of two methods of writing 
history, first, the biographical method that had characterized the ra- 
tionalistic age, and secondly, the new method of his own age which he calls 
the "Deduction aus Zustaenden." "Denn alles was geschieht, geschieht 
durch den Helden und durch das Volk. In dem Volke gaehrt eine Unzahl 
vorbereitender Umstaende, die der Held zusammenfasst, sie mit einem Teil 
von sich selbst vermischt, und sie dann zur Tat macht. Der Held ist 
nichts ohne das Volk, das Volk nichts ohne den Helden." 4 He feels that 
it is difficult to determine the exact relations between hero and mass, and 
speaks of Niebuhr as having recognized the importance of the mass in 
Attic and Roman history as it had not been recognized before. He feels 
that his own age tended to neglect the importance of the individual hero 
and laid too much stress on the deduction of the hero from the 
" Zustaende " or the " Volksgeist." This method he notices in Ranke whose 
best descriptions he found in the case of victims of circumstances, such as 
Charles V, Philip II, etc. "Der Hegelianismus ist dieser historischen 
Manipulation guenstig; es scheint aber in ihr auch die Erinnerung an den 
ausserordentlichen Mann sich zu regen, dem keiner seiner Feinde fuer die 
Person gewachsen war, und der dennoch dem Volksgeiste erlag." 5 

1 Memorabilien, II, 19. 

2 Ibid., I, 29. 4 Ibid., I, 150. 

3 Ibid., I, 28. . s Ibid., 152. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 4 1 

This exposition of the historic theory of the time is almost like a com- 
mentary explaining Grabbe's theory and practice. Grabbe was the most 
passionately enthusiastic historian of all the historic drama- 
tists. Having no theory of " tragedy," he gave himself 
with whole soul and splendid historic insight to the writing of historic 
dramas. 

Grabbe showed an attitude toward history that is absolutely unique 
in its barock and passionate devotion. His interest in history and his 
insight were remarkable from childhood. 1 Immermann, who knew him 
near the end of his life, writes that Grabbe's main interest was history, 
that he knew it thoroughly, and that he "lebte und litt .... mit den 
historischen Personen auf welche eben sein Blick fallen mochte." 2 Grabbe 
himself in his letters has a mania for mentioning historic anniversaries, 
and uses the reference to them either in amplification of the date of his 
letters, or in place of it. 3 He comments frequently on historic events, 
past and contemporary. 4 He insists also on his historic ability. Several 
times he speaks of his correct prophecies in Napoleon, 5 and says, "Es ist 
juristisch erweislich das als ich die lieben Ordonnanzen des zehnten Karl las, 
und .... die Folgen ahnte, mir die Gicht ausden Fuessenfuhr." 6 Again 
he writes with pride that Marius und Sulla shows "dass der Autor sich 
vielleicht auf historischen Blick versteht"; 7 and in another place he boasts, 
"Ich kann in geschichtlichen Sachen jedem Stirn bieten," 8 and "Beim 
Barbarossa bitte ich nicht zu vergessen, dass ich .... zum Historiker 
bestimmt war, und die Geschichte wirklich genau kenne." 9 He is inter- 
ested also in historians, criticizes some, praises others; 10 and also freely 
criticizes interpretations of history found in dramas, giving, on these occasions, 
many good historic apercus of his own. He is conscious that his is an age 
of historic insight, and says, "die neuere Zeit ist in Philosophic, Wissenschaft, 
Staatsleben (besonders seit der franzoesischen Revolution) und an Erfahr- 
ungen aller Art weiter als das Shakespearische Zeitalter gekommen," 11 
and he reflects in his judgments the fact that his life fell in the age of Hegel, 
Niebuhr, and Ranke. 

1 Ziegler, Grabbes Leben. 2 Immernianns Werke, Memorabilien II, 38. 

3 Grisebach's Grabbe, IV, 220, 243, 288, 314, 339, 396, 424, 442, 460, 485, 492; 
Duesseldorfer Theater, ibid., IV, 56. 

4 Grabbe, IV, 223, 301, 311. 7 Ibid., IV, 205-6. 
s Ibid., IV, 294, 301, 320. 8 Ibid., IV, 344. 

6 Ibid., IV, 301. 9 Ibid., IV, 280. 

10 Ibid., IV, 268, 465, 332, 397, 438, 473, etc.; Shahespearomanie, I, 453. 

« Gr., I, 467. 



42 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

Grabbe felt that the aim of the historic drama was the presentation of 
true history. He conceives of his dramas as set not upon the stage but in 
the confines of the whole world in its actual terms and dimensions. 1 Hav- 
ing, at the suggestion of Immermann, given the scenes in Hannibal not 
numbers, but merely the headings with the names of the places of actual 
occurrence, he commends this "tremiche Haupteinteilung," 2 and in the 
Hermannsschlacht carries the idea still farther, dividing the play not into 
acts, but into three nights and days, thus gradually removing every vestige 
of stage suggestion, and placing before us the actual scene. For his dramas 
he always made thorough preparatory studies. 3 He says of Marius und 
Sulla, "Der Verfasser von Marius und Sulla hat .... mehr wie die 
meisten uebrigen historischen Dramatiker sich genau an die Geschichte 
zu halten gesucht." 4 "Der Dichter ist vorzugeweise verpflichtet, den 
wahren Geist der Geschichte zu entraetseln." 5 He criticizes Shakespeare 
for anachronisms, "welche man endlich einmal recht tuechtig tadeln 
sollte, und zwar aus dem einfachen Grunde weil das Bessere besser ist." 6 
He also criticizes him for misinterpreting Caesar's character, 7 and regrets 
that in King John the Plantagenets and the nobility are not characterized 
as "Halbfranzosen und Normannen," and the lower classes as Angles 
and Saxons. 8 He says that if Schiller had studied the signature of Mary and 
Elizabeth more carefully, he would have pictured the " naive galante 
Maria," "die eherne Elisabeth," more correctly. 9 He commends Babo 
for having conceived Philip of Schwaben correctly in his Otto von Wittels- 
bach, in spite of the incorrect conception given in Raumer's Hohenstauffen. 10 
He accentuates the fact that he himself has given an accurate picture of 
the Archbishop of Mainz, 11 of Cato, 12 and of the history in Henry VI. 13 

On the other hand Grabbe does demand some freedom in the treatment 
of history, 14 but this freedom must not be the result of seeking for effect, 15 
nor should the changes show lack of knowledge on the part of the poet, 
nor should he falsify history. 16 He explains changes of dates as necessary. 

1 Gr., IV, 292, 330, 319. 

2 Ibid., IV, 407. 

3 Ibid., IV, 276, 289, 313, 350, 354, 360, 370, 429, etc. 
* Ibid., I, 431. 

s Ibid. ' IJ Ibid., IV, 272. 

6 Ibid., I, 453. See also 455. I2 Ibid., I, 356. 

7 Ibid., I, 452. 13 Ibid., IV, 287. 

8 Ibid., IV, 41. 14 Ibid., IV, 2, 80, 69; I, 431. 

9 Ibid., IV, 450. is Ibid., IV, 80. 
10 Ibid., IV, in. ^ Ibid. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 43 

Der Verfasser der Marius und Sulla hat zwar mehr als die meisten uebrigen 
historischen Dramatiker sich genau an die Geschichte zu halten gesucht, und 
dennoch ganze Jahre versetzen muessen, [but adds] wenn das der Leser als einen 
Missklang bemerkt, so ist es ein Fehler. 1 Der Dichter ist vorzugsweise ver- 
pflichtet, den wahren Geist der Geschichte zu entraetseln. So lange er diesen 
nicht verletzt, kommt es bei ihm auf eine woertlich historische Treue nicht an. 2 

On occasion, when it is a question of appreciating a play like Calderon's 
Life Is a Dream, he is willing to give up this point of view entirely, and says, 

Ihr Historico-Tragico-Kenner bedenkt: wozu Dichtkunst, lehrt sie nur auf 
Umwegen Geschichte? .... der Dichter, .... nimmt aus der Welt, die 
ihm nur Material zu seiner Production ist, das was ihm zur Vollendung seines 
Werkes noetig scheint, setzt aus seinem Geist hinzu, was ihm geziemend duenkt, 
blickt dann nicht weiter um sich. Er bittet: nur zu beurteilen, ob seine Schoep- 
fung an sich schoen ? nicht aber sie nach Tatsachen und Schoepfungen ausser 
ihr zu kritisiren. 3 

It is true, also, that Grabbe's work is not always quite free from satirical 
purpose. Thus Runkel is introduced into the Hermanns schlacht* and 
Uechtritz into Hannibal as Prusias. 5 Adelina and the Sultanin in Napoleon 
are portraits of his one-time bride. 6 This latter sort of delineation and 
invention is of course perfectly legitimate, as it does not touch the essence 
of the history involved. Thus we see that with slight exception Grabbe 
insists far more consciously and definitely and consistently than any 
previous dramatist on historic truth and reality. 

Grabbe demands both of historians and historic dramatists historic 
insight; 7 he commends Schiller's "tiefen Blick in die Weltgeschichte," 8 
and the unraveling of the spirit of history, 9 by which he means not only the 
true conception of characters and conditions, but in particular, the conceiv- 
ing of history as a movement of larger bearing produced by historic neces- 
sity. Not every period seems to him worthy of presentation in historic 
drama. Thus he gives up the Hohenstaujjen because the interests and 
heroes seem too petty. 10 He demands "von dem Poeten, sob aid er Historie 
dramatisch darstellt, eine concentrische, die Idee der Geschichte wieder- 
gebende Behandlung," 11 that is, he seeks the world-law manifested in events 

1 Gr., I, 431. 4 Ibid., IV, 403. 

2 Ibid. 5 Ibid., IV, 392. 

3 Ibid., IV, 9-10. 6 Ibid., IV, 412. 

7 Ibid., IV, 268, 465, 33 2 > 397. 473> 4S8; praises Niebuhr, I, 453. 

8 Ibid., I, 497. 10 Ibid., IV, 313. 

9 Ibid., I, 431. 11 Ibid., I, 457. 



44 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

and in history, and conceives of the sum of events as a movement. 
From this point of view he criticizes Shakespeare's Histories, and calls 
them "poetisch verzierte Chroniken," 1 without " Mittelpunkt," " Catas- 
trophe" or "poetisches Endziel." 2 He says that Julius Caesar lacks 
this unity. 3 His analysis of Coriolanus, 4 of his own Marius und Sulla; 5 
his remarks on Schiller's Maria Stuart 6 show how he conceives of the 
history there involved as a movement directed by historic necessity. 

This conception is Grabbe's most interesting contribution to the theory 
of the historic drama. The realization that historic necessity directs 
the advance of big historic movements involves historic justice in the 
treatment of the individuals on both sides, and thereby makes impossible 
the old demand of unity of hero; this conception of historic necessity 
involves also the neglect of the idea of poetic justice or retribution. The 
historic movement, which is to Grabbe the unifying principle of the drama, 7 
and which is what Goethe meant by " turning-point," is conceived as a 
synthesized result of a conflict between great antithetical mass tendencies. 8 
He says that Shakespeare did not understand "was der Kampf der Patricier 
und Plebeier eigentlich sagen wollte, wie dieser Kampf aus der aeussersten 
Notwendigkeit, aus dem innersten Leben sich entwickelte." 9 Although 
he excuses this in Shakespeare because "die neuere Zeit ist in Philosophic, 
Wissenschaft, und Staatsleben .... weiter als das Shakespearische 
Zeitalter gekommen," 10 he demands it of present writers. He criticizes 
Schiller's Maria Stuart as failing to bring out the historic compulsion in 
Elizabeth's actions, "dem Dichter hat's beliebt nicht die grossen Not- 
wendigkeits- und Weltverhaeltnisse, welche Elisabeth leiteten, zum Hebel 
seiner Tragoedie zu machen," and as confining the plot to petty intrigue 
and jealousy. 11 Of his Marius und Sulla he says, that the Roman world 
has "weder auf der Erde noch in der Religion einen festen Hauptpunkt 
mehr, dass wenn sie nicht auseinander fallen soil, nur der Despotismus 
sie noch zusammen halten kann. Darum mussten Maenner wie Marius 
und Sulla erscheinen, und das werden was sie geworden sind." 12 Of 
"Barbarossa" he boasts, 

Barbarossa ist ein emstes Schicksalsdrama in der besseren Bedeutung. Die 
Verhaeltnisse sind gegeben, Welf und Waiblinger sind jeder zu gross um beide 

i Gr. 7 Ibid., I, 457 f - 

2 Ibid. 8 Ibid., IV, 95-96; I, 453. 

3 Ibid., 452. 9 Ibid., I, 453. 

4 Ibid., 453. ™ Ibid., 457. 

5 Ibid., 409. XI Ibid., IV, 95-96. 

6 Ibid., IV, 95^)6. I2 Ibid., I, 409. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 45 

nebenher zu bestehen, der Kaiser und der Loewe sind Freunde, aber sie muessen 
doch, durch die Lage der Dinge gezwungen, sich bekaempfen, ebenso wie auch 
der Papst Alexander, der in seiner ganzenhistorischen Groesse dasteht, dem 
Kaiser nicht aus gemeiner Feindschaft und Niedrigkeit entgegentritt, sondern 
auch mit dem Blick auf Umstaende. 1 

In speaking of Napoleon's life and action, he deduces them as the inevit- 
able product of the Revolution and its life, calling him "das Faehnlein an 
deren Maste" "kleiner als die Revolution," of which he says, "sie lebt 
noch." 2 This finding in an historic movement an illustration of a natural 
fate-tragedy is a great and new insight, and well illustrates the Hegelian 
conception of history. 

In this last quotation one finds not only an expression of historic inevi- 
tability, but an important conception of the power of mass movement. 
The Revolution is felt as a great movement and impulsion, strong because 
it represents the collective will of an infinite number of individuals, bearing 
along with it irresistibly even the seemingly striking hero, a tremendous 
fate-power. Thus Napoleon, who never knew "wohin er strebte," is 
borne to success by it. 3 Before this all-compelling fate-power, which is 
the product of the complicated network of cause and effect due to the count- 
lessly varied will-impulses of many, even the unusual individual who plans 
consciously is helpless. Such a victim Grabbe finds in Peter the Great. 
Speaking of Immermann's Alexis, he writes, "Dieser Wurm von Vater, 
der aus den Faeden des Schicksals (welches wir so wenig kennen als uns, 
weil wir auch dazu gehoeren) Seide spinnen wollte, ward mit Recht ueber- 
sehen, als die ehernen Knoten selbstherrschend sich loesten, ausbreiteten, 
eine gewaltige, doch suehnende Hand." Thus also, Sulla, who is trying 
to reform Rome by individualistic measures, is doubtful "ob bei der Ver- 
sunkenheit der Menge seine Anordnungen lange bestehen wuerden." 4 

Although Grabbe feels that the mass is composed of very average 
individuals, "dennoch pflegt im Volk als Gesamtheit stets die richtige 
Ansicht, das wahre Gefuehl vorzuherrschen." He criticizes Shakespeare 
for having represented the mass in Coriolanus as "Poebel." 5 The 
treatment in Julius Caesar he finds superficial. 6 

In order adequately to present an historic movement, the scale 
and canvas chosen must be large and comprehensive; must present 
masses. He aims to make his dramas not "buehnengerecht," but 
"weltgerecht." 7 Grabbe says that the theater must be made "weit 

i Gr.. IV, 273. 4 Ibid., I, 425. 6 Ibid. 

* Ibid., IV, 289. s Ibid., I, 453. 7 Ibid., IV, 330. 

3 Ibid.; cf. Napoleon's words above. 



46 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

einfacher und doch weit grossartiger," 1 and "Meines sei die Welt." 2 
From the first he was proud of his "Massenscenen." Speaking of those 
in Marius und Sulla he says, "Selbst Shakespeare hat nie tremichere Volks- 
scenen gezeichnet." 3 Again he says, "Die Volksscenen [in Napoleon] 
werden koestlich, besser als im Sulla"* He is especially proud of great 
battles in which whole nations are opposed to one another. 5 He also 
prides himself on his excellent individualization of the masses. He com- 
mends what he has done in this regard in Marius und Sulla, 6 and speaks 
of the art he has shown in the picturing of the Saxons and Suabians. 7 
To guilds of people he purposely gives a family resemblance, saying, "Ich 
habe die preussischen Jaeger mit Willen conform gemacht." 8 Shakespeare 
he had criticized for not characterizing justly the French whom he hated, 9 
and for not characterizing the English in King John as Anglo-Saxons in 
contrast to the Norman nobility. 10 Uechtritz he criticizes for not having 
differentiated "die slavischen Gepiden und die germanischen Lango- 
barden." 11 

Grabbe has full joy in the varied life of the mass, but is often also dis- 
couraged by a seamy side of the petty mass. "Die Menge ist ein Hund, 
je mehr Pruegel, je folgsamer." 12 He is a liberalist, but despises the pettiness 
of so much of the revolutionary agitation as "ein notwendiges Uebel," 13 
deplores the despotism of the many that followed Napoleon's fall, 14 or the 
despotism of democracy made possible by the constitutional life, and says, 
"Ich liebe die Despotie eines Einzelnen, nicht vieler." 15 The nature of the 
prevailing liberalism makes him almost desire despotism back again. 10 
This power of the petty mass he illustrates in Hannibal, where Hannibal 
the strong hero falls before the pettiness of small business men. 17 

Yet, with all his realization of the mass, with all his elemental instinct 
for the universal, for the most democratic individualism, with all his con- 
sciousness of the power of the multi-headed mob, he has just as elemental 
an instinct for the great individual, for the Titan. "Ich liebe Despotie 

* Gr., IV, 319. 3 Ibid., IV, 246. 

2 Ibid., IV, 292; cf. also 300 f. * Ibid., IV, 296. 

5 Immermann, Mem., TV, xxxiii; Gr. IV, 271. 

6Gr., IV, 205-6. ™ Ibid., IV, 228. 

7 Ibid., IV, 273. !3 Ibid., IV, 315. 

*Ibid., IV, 306. 14 Ibid., IV, 361. 

Ibid., I, 453. is Ibid., IV, 473- 

™Ibid., IV, 41. ^ ibid., IV, 361. 

" Ibid., IV, 419 f- I7 Ibid., IV, 398. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 47 

eines Einzelnen"; 1 "dieser Liberalismus koennte mich Despotie zurueck- 
wuenschen lassen." 2 He likes Titans so well that he associates several 
with one another, and in his dramas he cannot endure to have everything 
pivot around one hero, "nichts ist mir fataler als wo alles sich um einen 
Goetzen dreht," and so plans to bring Scipio into prominence by the side 
of Hannibal. 3 Indeed, it is just the conflict of one Titan with another that 
he admires. 4 The height of the tragic seems attained when the great 
Titan falls before the petty mass as illustrated in Hannibal. 5 

We find, then, in Grabbe an individualism that causes him to appreciate 
the autonomous life of the mass better than any preceding dramatist, its 
power for good, but also its cruel power in curtailing the very individualism 
which is the source of its own free life, when this individualism rises before 
it in high potency in a Titanic hero. He illustrates the difficult problem 
of the interrelation between hero and mass. 

Grabbe has no fear of the " Staatsaktion " as such. He does not believe 
that in order to make an historic drama interesting it is necessary to trans- 
form political into passionate motives, and indeed seeks to present just 
the political motives and "Umstaende," 6 and the public rather than private 
interests. So he criticizes Schenk's Belisar as being "buergerlich," 7 
Kleist's Kaetchen von Heilbronn as giving "blosse Bewegungen des Her- 
zens," 8 and Schiller's Maria Stuart as hinging on petty intrigue and 
jealousy. 9 

Grabbe is increasingly conscious of the individuality of his work. 
He is proud of his conception of historic movement and historic necessity, 
and of his mass treatment. The excellence of the historic insight in Bar- 
barossa and Heinrich der Sechste, the wealth of true individual characteri- 
zation, are an unceasing delight to him. 10 He works on Napoleon with 
joy in having seized a modern period, and prides himself on the mass 
scenes. 11 Hannibal, he thinks, is much better than Napoleon.* 2 Finally 
of the Hermannsschlacht, into which he puts with frantic consecration 
his dying strength and effort, which he feels is sapping his last blood, 13 

iGr., IV, 473- 

'Ibid., IV, 361. *>Ibid., IV, 273. 

3 Ibid., IV, 356. 7 ibid., IV, 60. 

* Ibid. & Ibid., IV, 101. 

s Ibid., IV, 390, 398. 9 Ibid., IV, 95-96. 

10 Ibid., IV, 267 and in various letters of this period. 

11 Ibid., IV, 294, 296. 

12 Ibid., IV, 376. 13 Ibid., IV, 463, etc. 



48 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

he says, "die Hermannsschlacht ist gegen den Hannibal ein Coloss"; 1 
and "ein Coloss auf durchaus neuen Wegen schreitend, ist das Stueck." 2 

Thus it is clear that Grabbe consciously sought to write an historic drama 
of large purport, to give true history, to give it treated as a movement, 
the product of the conflict of large and complex forces, and to give this 
movement conceived in the terms of a large historic necessity. He repre- 
sents a decided, important, and interesting step in the development of the 
theory and practice of the historic drama, and throws an entirely new light 
on the corporate type. 3 

Georg Buechner, who follows somewhat the inspiration of Grabbe, 
wrote: 

Der dramatische Dichter ist ... . nichts als ein Geschichtsschreiber, steht 
aber ueber Letzerem dadurch dass er uns die Geschichte zum zweitenmal erschaff t, 
t und uns gleich unmittelbar, statt eine trockene Erzaehlung zu 
geben, in das Leben einer Zeit hinein verse tzt, uns statt Charak- 
teristiken Charaktere .... und statt Beschreibungen Gestalten giebt. Seine 
hoechste Aufgabe ist, der Geschichte, wie sie sich wirklich begeben, so nahe als 
moeglich zu kommen. 4 

He realized to the full the shifting of weight from hero to mass. 

Ich studirte die franzoesische Revolution. Ich fuehlte mich wie zerruettet 
unter dem graesslichen Fatalismus der Geschichte. Ich finde in der Menschen- 
natur eine entsetzliche Gleichheit, in den menschlichen Verhaeltnissen eine unab- 
wendbare Gewalt, allem und keinem verliehen. Der Einzelne nur Schaum auf 
der Welle, die Groesse ein blosser Zufall, die Herrschaft des Genies ein Puppen- 
spiel, ein laecherliches Ringen gegen ein ehernes Gesetz, es zu erkennen das 
Hoechste, es zu beherrschen unmoeglich. 5 

This conception permeates D anions Tod. 

Wer wird der Hand fluchen, auf die der Fluch des Muss gefallen ? 6 Das 
Schicksal fuehrt uns die Arme, aber nur gewaltige Naturen sind seine Organe. 7 

*Gr., IV, 485. 'Ibid., IV, 502. 

3 It may seem surprising that Grabbe's theory has been given in such detail, and 
has been taken so seriously when compared with Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Hebbel . 
Grabbe has however undoubtedly aimed to do a different thing than they, and has 
largely succeeded. Apart from his hopeless faults, he has achieved something that the 
other much greater and saner dramatists never aimed to do. His sometimes over- 
whelming self-confidence and self-praise have a real and justified origin in this realiza- 
tion, and one can understand how under the stress of the originality of his own concep- 
tion he forgets what he lacks. 

4 Buechner s Werke, 354. 6 Dantons Tod, 50. 
s Einleitung to Dantons Tod, lxv. ? Ibid., 66. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 49 

The close connection of this conception of the historic drama as an 
expression of the Hegelian interpretation of history with the conception 
of tragedy as a formula for metaphysical experience, found 
at this time in almost all the writers and critics of the 
tragedy, is seen definitely in GriepenkerPs words. He wrote in 1846, 
"Tragisch ist diejenige Konstellation wo das individuelle Dasein auf 
der Spitze einer universellen Tataeusserung vor der Macht des Unendlichen, 
Goettlichen, in Staub sinkt." It is a great thing he, thinks, to realize 
dass das einzelne nur einseitig berechtigt sein kann weil es endlich bedingt ist, 
dass es aber in seinem Falle mitten in seiner Einzelheit zu offenbaren vermag, 
dass es der Herrlichkeit des Allgemeinen gedient, dass es gelebt der Idee und 

Stirbt fuer die Idee * Diese dritte, diese letzte und hoechste Stufe des 

Tragischen als des Kampfes zwischen einseitig berechtigten Maechten, resultirt 
aus dem innersten Wesen der Geschichte. Die ganze Geschichte vollzieht ihren 
Fortschritt unter der Fahne dieser Idee des Tragischen. Ja, man kann sagen, 
von des Buergerlebens engem Kreis bis hinauf in die hoechste Sphaere des Staats- 
und Voelkerlebens ist es dieser Streit einseitig Berechtigter, der als Angelpunkt 
des Prozesses und Progresses der Geschichte anerkannt werden muss .... 
und in alien grossen Ereignissen der Weltgeschichte, wie in den scheinbar klein- 
sten Beziehungen dazu wird der .... Beobachter .... diesen Kampf ein- 
seitig berechtigter Gegensaetze entdecken und darauf, auf diese Idee, den Fort- 
schritt der Geschichte bauen muessen. 2 

GriepenkerPs idea of a corporate historic drama is shown in his con- 
ception of what he thinks Schiller has done. 

Wo er seine tragische Schlacht schlaegt, da sind es die Hauptknoten der 
welthistorischen Entwicklung wo es sich nicht urn die Wohlfahrt einzelner, 
sondern um die grossen Interessen der Voelker handelt, wo Masse gegen Masse 
wirkt, und die Gewaltigen der Erde zittern.3 

Hegel had been the first to formulate the process of history as the 
struggle of "einseitig Berechtigter," and had insisted that each party 
although justified was also guilty. The guilt consisted in 
the attempt of each force to affirm itself at the expense of 
the other equally justified force, an attempt that was on eaeh side the 
necessary consequence of life itself; hence the guilt is itself justified. 
The result of the conflict, the result in history, consisted in a forced 
compromise between the two, so that neither side was absolutely 
victorious or absolutely annihilated. "Die Einseitigkeit die auf der Berechti- 

1 Kunstgenius der deutschen Literatur des letzten Jahrhunderts in seinen geschicht- 
lichen organischen Entwicklung, 290. 

2 Ibid., 298. 3 Ibid., 177. 



50 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

gimg des anderen nicht achtet ist die Schuld." "Am Schluss werden die 

beiden Einseitigkeiten aufgehoben." 1 His conception of life as of the 

drama meant the double dualism of the struggle of justified finite forces 

against one another, and the inevitable struggle of the individual will, 

in so far as it is finite, against the infinite or world- will. 

Vischer discusses the "Tragische des sittlichen Konflikts" explained 

by Hegel, and finds it illustrated especially in revolutionary conflicts, 

„. , such as the conflict between feudalism and kingdom in 

v iscncr 

England, as the conflict between individualism and the 

police-state in Germany in the sixteenth century, and as the French Revo- 
lution. When speaking of this in connection with the drama, he thinks 
of the Revolution chiefly as a good background for a representative 
private conflict such as is found in Antigone, and not indeed of a con- 
flict between revolutionary masses; nevertheless the suggestion leads 
along that line. 2 

Hegel had insisted on a guilt inherent in the justification of the con- 
flicting force; this view Vischer accepts for this the highest form of the 
tragic, "das Tragische des sittlichen Konflikts," but finds it inadequate to 
explain catastrophes that have not even the basis of this kind of guilt. 3 
Although he found fault with Schiller for having preferred the compulsion 
of "Umstaende," and a guiltless hero, 4 he none the less analyzes this form 
of the tragic as "das Tragische als Gesetz des Universums." 
Das Uebel kommt nicht vom verletzten sittlichen Willen, sondern vom 
Zufall .... vom Naturgesetz, nicht vom beleidigten Sittengesetz. Das absolute 
Subject erscheint in Form einer blinden Macht, welche ein Beispiel aufstellt, 
dass das Einzelne zu Grunde gehen muss weil es Einzelnes ist. 5 

Thus the tragic guilt of the individual is now felt to be contained in 
the mere fact that he is a finite individual who, as such, is necessarily 
opposed to the world-spirit. The individual's inevitable rebellion 
against the world- spirit is interpreted to be the same thing as the Greek 
Hybris; and the Greek "Neid der Goetter," which he says destroys 
"das Schoene," "das Glueck" even where there has been no Hybris, 
no guilt, is felt to have been merely a symbol for the uncomprehended 
world-spirit. 

This formulation of Vischer's goes a step forward in the analysis of 
causality, since he sees the fate-compulsion as a network of mere cause 
and effect, so complex that the direct causes of events cannot always 

1 Hegel, Aesthetih, III, 325 ff. 

2 Vischer, Aesthetik, I, 316. 4 Ibid., par. 123. 

3 Ibid., par. 132. 5 Ibid., par. 300. 



DEDUCTION OP CHIEF PROBLEMS 5 1 

be traced, and since he accepts this lack of congruence especially as 
regards the connection between guilt and catastrophe for the drama. 
This is the conception that was suggested in Goethe, Schiller, Grillparzer, 
and which was naively illustrated in Grabbe, who thought less of tragic 
and dramatic theory than of the presentation of actual history, and 
which was developed most fully by Hebbel. 

Lack of congruence between guilt and catastrophe is demanded 
aggressively by Schopenhauer x because he believes that 
tragedy should aim to present just the inadequacy and 
nothingness of life. 

Roetscher, one of the most influential of the critics of this time, believes 
that the aim of the poet must be the true presentation of 
the historical world-process, and says, 

da der Weltgeist selbst der Schoepfer der geschichtlichen Begebenheiten ist, und 
die geschichtlichen Charaktere seine Traeger sind, so wird auch in alien grossen 
Phasen der Weltgeschichte die geschichtliche Wahrheit mit der poetischen 

zusammenfallen 2 Der dramatische Dichter kann durch die treue Dar- 

legung des geschichtlichen Geistes, durch die reine Wiederspiegelung der geschicht- 
lichen Bewegung, ohne subjektive Zutaten, den Prozess des goettlichen Geistes 
am reinsten vor uns auslegen.3 

He believes in giving typical rather than individual truth, and allows 
changes from historic fact if they are in harmony with the higher historic 
meaning. 4 He thinks that the characters presented should, in their essen- 
tial attributes, be true to history because they are the organs of the world- 
spirit. 5 

Similar views are held by Melchior Meyr in Roetscher's Jahrbuecher 

fuer dramatische Kunst, but he lays less emphasis on philo- 
Melchior Meyr u . . .. , ,.,. ,, v , 

sopnic significance, and more on realistic fidelity. 

Ulrici's conception of the historic drama also shows the Hegelian 
influence. He speaks of the "idea" of history, and says that the "idea" 

. . of an epoch is the formative principle of the drama; that 

the unity is one of "idea," not of hero or action. He says 

that the epic element naturally preponderates, that the historic drama 

must give an essentially unaltered picture, but can change unessentials, 

and that a tragic ending is not necessary. 6 

1 Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, I, 286 ff. 

2 Roetscher, Kunst der dramatischen Darstellung, 33. 

3 Ibid., 49 f. 4 Ibid., Ill, 22. 5 Ibid. 
6 Ulrici, Shakes pear es dramatische Kunst, 33, 175 ff. 



52 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

Gervinus thinks that whereas the historian can give merely the facts, 

it is the poet's function to find the motives behind the facts, to present 

events as a chain of cause and effect, and to transform the 

"Staatsaktion" into a human story, preferably a tragedy 

according to the Aristotelian formula. 

Je freier und kuehner er hierbei verfaehrt, wie Shakespeare in Richard III, 
desto poetisch ansprechender wird seine Behandlung der Geschichte werden, 
desto mehr wird sie aber audi historischen Wert verlieren; je wahrer und der 
Wirklichkeit naeher er bleibt, wie in Richard II, desto mehr wird seine Dichtung 
an geschichtlichem Sinn gewinnen und an poetischem Sinn einbuessen. 1 

He demands exhibition of poetic justice in the drama as a reflection of the 
justice which he finds in the natural order, and believes that man is "Schmied 
seines eigenen Schicksals." 2 On the whole, he speaks of Shakespeare's 
form as a "neue Gattung," and acknowledges that since the events and 
actions have not a private personal but a larger political result, a severe 
formal concentration is impossible, and that greater epic breadth of con- 
struction is entailed. 3 

The realization of the fact that there are various types of historic 
dramas is shown in Gutzkow's attempt at classification in the "Anmerkung" 
to his Wullenweber (1848). He feels strongly that writers 
of historic drama have not recognized the various points of 
view that are possible with regard to historic subjects. Hence he finds an 
enormous body of tragedies "die zwischen dem entweder rein biographi- 
schen oder rein geschichtlichen, dem epischen, curieusen oder novellistisch- 
romantischen Standpunkt hin und her schwanken." This leads him to 
divide historic dramas into such as give "das historische Genrebild," and 
those that are "rein historisch-dramatische." 4 

Thinking of this latter type, he demands "das historische Drama muss 
wirklich Geschichte geben, und Geschichte nur als solche." His discussion 
of Schiller shows that he also demands the choice of an important period 
in the "Voelkergeschichte," with "weite geschichtliche Fernsichten"; 
he praises Schiller for having introduced us into "die grossen Hallen der 
Weltgeschichte, nicht in ihre dunkeln Seitengaenge." The great danger 
of this type is the "anecdotic," which, he says, Schiller usually avoided, 
but which was characteristic of Goethe, who, indeed, was thereby well 
able to reproduce the type and tone of an historic epoch as a whole, but who 
could never rise to the higher historic drama. 5 

1 Gervinus, Shakespeare, 319 ff. 

2 Ibid., 155. 4 "Anmerkung" to Wullenweber. 

3 Ibid., 235 f. s Ibid., 218 ff. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 53 

He understands the reason why the historic dramas of his time have 
shown political "Tendenz," but thinks that "Tendenz" is the greatest 
foe that the real historic drama has. 1 He believes in the presentation of 
true history, except in so far as the laws of the drama demand changes. 
He is glad that he is able to explain that Wullenweber, though not guilty 
of "Ueberhebung," has not been able to keep his hands absolutely clean, 
and so is not guiltless of his Nemesis. 2 

Laube has no original conception of the historic drama. In his intro- 
duction to Struensee, he says briefly, "Sie [gewesene Wirklichkeit] ist 

untergeordnet neben der Wahrheit die im Kunstwerke 

selbstaendig herrschen soil. Das Nichtgeschehene kann 
wahr sein durch die Kunst des Poeten .... und das Geschehene kann 
unwahr werden." Of his changes from historic truth he says, "Es bedarf 
dies .... von meinem Standpunkte aus keiner Verteidigung." 3 In 
his Geschichte der deutschen Literatur he says that the historic drama should 
not make the manners of an age its subject, but that it should show the 
" Fortschritt des handelnden Weltgeistes." 4 

Hebbel was always unwilling to have his theories identified with those 
of Hegel and others, but it is nevertheless easy to see that they are an 

expression of the same philosophic and historic thought. 

His preoccupation with the subject of the function of 
history in the drama began about 1839 after he had read Lessing's words 
on the subject. He writes, "das Verhaeltniss zwischen Tragoedie und 
Geschichte kann etwas inniger sein." 5 In his "Vorwort" to Judith he 
says, 

Die Poesie hat, der Geschichte gegenueber, eine andere Aufgabe, als die 

der Graeberverzierung und Transfiguration Im uebrigen werden mir die 

historischen und traditionellen Ueberlieferungen, die dem Fachgelehren in den 
Sinn kommen moegen .... so viel gelten, als sie dem Dichter, der das Wesen 
des Geschichtsprozesses erfasst hat .... naemlich nichts. 

In "Mein Wort ueber das Drama" he writes, "Die Geschichte ist 
fuer den Dichter ein Vehikel zur Verkoerperung seiner Anschauungen, 
nicht aber ist umgekehrt der Dichter der Auferstehungsengel der 
Geschichte." Similarly, he writes in the "Vorwort" to Maria Magdalena: 6 

1 "Anmerkung" to Wullenweber, 222. 2 Ibid., 224. 

3 Laube, " Einleitung " to Struensee. 

4 Ibid., Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, III, 225. 

5 Hebbel, Tagebuecher, I, 335. 

6 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 152 ff. 



54 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

.... die Geschichte, insofern sie nicht bloss das allmaelige Fortruecken der 
Menschheit in der Loesung ihrer Aufgabe darstellen, sondern audi den Anteil, 
den die hervorragenden Individuen daran hatten, mit Haushaelterin-Genauig- 
keit spezifiziren will, ist wirklich nicht viel mehr, als ein grosser Kirchhof mit 
seinem Immortalitaetsapparat; .... so kann die Aufgabe des Dramas, doch 
unmoeglich darin bestehen, .... einen zweifelhaften Galvanisirungsversuch 
anzustellen, und der neuchterne Lessingsche Ausspruch in der Dramaturgic 
.... wird verbleiben." 

Although he always asserts that the concrete facts of history need 
not be accurate, he insists on the correctness of historical atmosphere. 
He says of the difference between poetry and history, 

Wenn der Historiker jeden Einzelnen wie eine Bombe betrachtet, deren 
Schwingungen und Wirkungen er zu berechnen, um deren Entstehung er aber 
sich wenig zu kuemmern hat, so ist es Sache des dramatischen Dichters .... 
die Geschichte zu ergaenzen, zu zeigen, wie der Charakter, den er sich zum 
Vorwurf macht, geworden ist, was er ist. 

This is the point which is Hebbel's chief contribution to the theory 
of the historic drama, namely, the demand of this profounder treatment and 
utilization of m&urs, which had been first given by Schiller in his handling 
of Wallensteins Lager. Much of his theory throughout his life concerns 
this point. "Das Werden der Charaktere," not their deeds, interests him. 1 

Charaktere die nicht im Volksboden wurzeln, sind Topfgewaechse 2 

Wie jede Crystallisation von gewissen physikalischen Bedingungen abhaengt, so 
jede Individualisirung menschlichen Wesens von der Beschaffenheit der 
Geschichtsepoche, in die es faellt. Diese Modincationen der Menschennatur in 
ihrer relativen Notwendigkeit zur Anschauung zu bringen, ist die Hauptaufgabe, 
die die Poesie der Geschichte gegenueber hat. 3 .... 

Woher entspringt das Lebendige der echten Charaktere im Drama und in 
der Kunst ueberhaupt? Daher, dass der Dichter in jeder ihrer Aeusserungen 
ihre Atmosphaere wiederzuspiegeln weiss, die geistige, wie die leibliche, den 
Ideenkreis, wie Volk und Land, Stand und Rang, dem sie angehoeren. 4 .... 
Der dramatische Individualisirungsprozess ist vielleicht durch das Wasser am 
besten zu versinnlichen. Ueberall ist das Wasser Wasser und der Mensch Mensch; 
aber wie jenes von jeder Erdschicht durch die es stroemt oder sickert, einen 
geheimnissvollen Beigeschmack annimmt, so der Mensch ein Eigentuemliches 

1 Scholz, Hebbels Dramaturgic, 336. 

2 Hebbels Briefe, VI, 233. 

3 Tagebuecher, III, 144. 

4 Ibid., 268. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 55 

von Zeit, Nation, Geschichte, und Geschick. 1 .... Um die bedeutendsten 
Lebensprozesse darzustellen, muss man die Atmosphaere der Zeiten darstellen. 2 

He thus desires to picture the individual's growth out of his historic 
milieu, and to explain and justify his personality and his conflict by this 
social background. 

In Mein Wort ueber das Drama, 3 he writes: 
In welchen Verhaeltniss stent das Drama zur Geschichte, und inwiefern muss 
es historisch sein? Ich denke, so weit, als es dieses schon an und fuer sich 
ist, und als die Kunst fuer die hoechste Geschichtsschreibung gelten darf, 
indem sie die gross artigsten und bedeutendsten Lebensprozesse gar nicht 
darstellen kann, ohne die entscheidenden historischen Krisen, welche sie 
hervorrufen und bedingen .... mit einem Wort, die Atmosphaere der 

Zeiten zugleich mit zur Anschauung zu bringen Dann .... wirdman 

aufhoeren, mit beschraenktem Sinn nach einer gewissen Identitaet zwischen 
Kunst und Geschichte zu forschen, und gegebene und verarbeitete Situationen 
miteinander zu vergleichen, .... und man hat erkannt, dass das Drama 
nicht bloss in seiner Totalitaet, .... sondern dass es schon in jeden seiner 
Elemente symbolisch betrachtet werden muss. 

Thus, although Hebbel opposes abstract and finished characters in the 
drama, and although he recognizes the importance of the milieu that 
determines the characters, he believes in typical, rather than individual- 
istic, characteristization. Theoretically he aims at a harmonny between 
these two principles. In treating an historic personality, he demands 
always that his typical significance should be disengaged, and that the 
merely temporal should be obliterated. Hebbel holds a middle ground 
between the rationalists who believed in eternal, unchangeable, isolated 
types, and the naturalists who efface the typical significance; he believes 
in the recurrence of types as modified by successive milieus. 4 

If one disregards the often rather invisible guilt of Hybris postulated 
with the very fact of human individuation, s which Hebbel accepts, his 
dramas often show catastrophes not merited by striking guilt. He was 
much troubled by critics who missed the traditional reconciliation in his 
dramas, the visible victory of the moral order, 6 and he worked out his 

1 Tagebuecher, III, 447. 

2 Hebbels Dramaturgic, 100; Werke, XI, 279. 3 Werke, XI, 56. 

* Ibid., I, 145 (654); 209 (960); 314 ff.; 330 f.; 366 (1630); 395 (1768); II, 
25 6 ,( 2 73o); 95(2260); 127(2407); 131 f.; III,io2; IV, 37 (5328); 129(5647); 
Werke, X, 122. 

5 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 74, 98, 108; Werke, XI, 4. 

6 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 96, 106. 



56 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

ideas more and more clearly, asserting that his reconciliation of conflicts 
was found, not in the individual, but that the "Dialektik" — the play of 
"Zwiespalt" and " Versoehnung " — was placed in the "Idee selbst." 1 This 
reconciliation was suggested visibly in Hebbel's dramas, beginning with 
Herodes und Mariamne; he himself contrasted them with his earlier 
dramas in this respect. Like Grillparzer, he at first accepts Lessing's 
views that the drama should be logical in every step. 2 He says "Zwar 
sollen die Charaktere den Blitzstrahl an sich ziehen," and demands that 
the catastrophe be inevitable. 3 History seemed at first "nur weil sie kein 

System hat, keine rechte Tragoedie Dies schliesst den Zufall nicht 

voellig aus, nur aber werde er dann als Stoff behandelt, dem der ordnende 
Geist des Ganzen Form und Physiognomie erteilt." "Freilich mag 
auch ein Zufall Providenz sein, doch ist es eine Providenz die wir nicht 
zu fassen vermoegen." 4 Accordingly he blamed Schiller for allowing 
Max and Thekla to die without guilt. 5 Later Hebbel, although he still 
insisted on inevitableness, conceived the principle of inevitableness more 
broadly, and demanded that both dramatist and historian see the ever-present 
"Dualismus des Rechts," 6 in accordance with which he realized, speaking 
particularly of the French Revolution, "dass es keinen Moment giebt, wo 
irgend ein Recht sich durchsetzen koennte, ohne irgend ein Unrecht zu 
begehen .... dass es sich .... nicht .... um definitive, gewisser- 
massen chemische Scheidungsprocesse handelt."? Since the individual 
must always fall before the inevitably successful self-affirmation of the 
"Idee," it seemed immaterial to him "ob der Held an einer vortrefflichen 
oder an einer verwerflichen Bestrebung scheitert." 8 Although in Hebbel's 
conception, as in Hegel's and Vischer's, there is an insistence upon the 
guilt of the" guiltless, the actual illustrations seem rather to be examples 
of the tragic as "Gesetz des Universums." Thus the imperfect justice 
symbolized in the old Greek fate and suggested in Schiller receives meta- 
physical justification as in Hegel and Vischer. For, no matter how unjust 
and incomprehensible fate, the "Idee," appears to human eyes, it is, as 
it was with the Greeks, the "Silhouette Gottes, des Unbegreiflichen und 
L T nerfassbaren."9 

1 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 96, 98, 108, 117; "Vorwort" to Maria Magdalena. 

2 Tagebuecher, III, 245 f . 4 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 62. 

3 Ibid, I, 330. 5 Hebbels Werke, XI, 208. 
6 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 196; Werke, XII, 328 £f. 

7 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 344; Werke, XII, 328 f. 

8 Hebbels Dramaturgie, 98; Werke, XI, 4. 

9 Tagebuecher I, 224. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 57 

Accurate as Hebbel is in the motivation by historic environment, this 
is, however, only the means and first step in the accomplishment of a non- 
historical purpose. He says, to be sure, "Die Dichtkunst, die hoechste, 
ist die eigentliche Geschichtsschreibung die das Resultat der historischen 
Prozesse fasst und in unvergleichlichen Bildern festhaelt, wie zum Beispiel 
Sophocles die Idee des Griechentums," 1 but he means something very 
far removed from concrete historic drama. He says, "Das Drama soil 
den jedesmaligen Welt- und Menschenzustand in seinem Verhaeltniss zur 
Idee darstellen," and demands that it should help to solve "die weltgeschicht- 
liche Aufgabe." 2 The "Individualisirung," the "Werden der Individua- 
lisirung," the "Darstellung des Wiederstreites zwischen Weltwillen und 
Einzelwillen," the presentation of the "Kampf des Individuellen mit dem 
Universum," 3 are his chief interest, and not the historic matter. His not 
specific, but typical and symbolical, conception of the historic drama, and 
indeed of the whole "Wesen des Geschichtsprozesses," which parallels 
his contempt of "die materielle Geschichte," 4 is seen distinctly in his " Vor- 
wort" to Maria Magdalena, "das Drama schon an und fuer sich (ist) 
historisch." 5 He even says, "dass ein reines Phantasiegebilde, selbst ein 
Liebsgemaelde .... historisch sein kann." 6 From this point of view 
he says, "die Menschheit .... lebt, nur fuer und durch ihre Geschichte, 
und Shakespeare .... ward nur ein grosser Dramatiker weil er ein grosser 
Geschichtskundiger war. " 7 To make a drama historic in this sense 
it is only necessary first to choose a period of social revolution, then to 
present this revolution as an historically accurate milieu which is felt to 
be the inevitable result of the previous ages and which shows the process 
of breaking an outworn form and of finding a new form, and finally, with 
this milieu as a background, to picture the conflict between "Einzelwillen" 
and "Weltwillen," this " Lebensprozess an sich," as he calls it. 8 Thus 
when Hebbel says, "Die Geschichte ist fuer den Dichter ein Vehikel zur 
Verkoerperung seiner Anschauungen, nicht aber ist umgekehrt der Dichter 
der Auferstehungsengel der Geschichte," 9 it is clear that from the point 
of view of the present study, which desires especially to trace the evolution 
of that type of historic drama whose mission it is to give a true, living, con- 
crete embodiment of a political movement of corporate interest, Hebbel 

1 Tagebuecher, II, 57. 

2 "Vorwort" to Maria Magdalena. 

3 Hebbels Dramaturgic, 89, An Madame Stich. 

* Werhe, XI, 5. n Tagebuecher, I, 164. 

s Ibid., XI, 58. 8 "Mem Wort u. d. Drama." 

6 "Mein Wort ii. d. Drama." 9 Ibid. 



58 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

undoubtedly uses history as a " Vehikel." 1 He chooses, it is true, periods 
of revolution for his backgrounds; however, not the revolutions them- 
selves in their corporate bearing are made the subjects of his dramas, 
but individualistic problems, which, like the characters in whom they are 
illustrated, grow inevitably out of these backgrounds. 

Hebbel's conception of the drama, which is a formula into which 
one's theory of history, of the universe, must be fitted, 2 illustrates and 
explains the typical, symbolical process-drama, not the corporate movement- 
drama. 3 To the conception of the symbolical process-drama he is brought 
by the consideration 

dass der Ausscheidungsprozess, der das Bedeutende von dem Unbedeutenden 
sondert, sich immer steigern, dass er die Nomenclatur dereinst einmal bis auf 
die Alexander und Napoleone lichten, das er noch spaeter nur noch die Voelker- 
Physiognomien, und dann wohl gar nur noch die durch die Phasen der Religion 
und Philosophic bedingten allgemeinsten Entwicklungsepochen der Menschheit 
festhalten .... wird. 4 

He believes that historic writing should present, not individuals and mate- 
rial events, but "das allmaelige Fortruecken der Menschheit in der Loesung 
ihrer Aufgabe." 5 He feels that the law that underlies the drama lies 
also at the root of the life of the universe, "Denn das Drama ist nur darum 
die hoechste Form der Kunst und der Tragoedie .... weil das Gesetz 
des Dramas dem Weltlauf selbst zu Grunde liegt, und weil die Geschichte 
sich in alien grossen Krisen immer zur Tragoedie zuspitzt." 6 Hence he 
demands that the drama should absorb this "hoechsten Gehalt der 
Geschichte," 7 and demands of the dramatist that he apprehend correctly 
"das Wesen des Geschichtsprozesses. " So he says definitely, 

Es ist ein Drama moeglich, das den Strom der Geschichte bis in seine geheim- 
nissvollsten Quellen, die positiven Religionen, hinein verfolgt, und das, weil es 
in dialektischer Form alle Konsequenzen der diesen zu Grunde liegenden inner- 
sten Ideen an den zuerst bewusst oder unbewuusst davon ergriffenen Individuen 
veranschaulicht, ein Symbolum der gesamten historischen und gesellschaftlichen 
Zustaende, die sich im Laufe der Jahrhunderte daraus entwickeln mussten, 
aufstellt. 8 

1 Cf. Koch, Drama und Geschichte bei Hebbel, 17. He holds the opposite view. 

2 Werhe, XII, on Gervinus, 324-34; Scheunert, Pantragismus. See also Hebbel's 
remarks on his Dithmarschen; he considers the Dithmarschen as the tragic "collective 
hero." 

3 See chaps, ii and iii. 6 Ibid., XII, 328-29. 

4 Werhe, XI, 55. 1 Ibid., XI, 60. 

s Ibid., 59. 8 Palaestra, VIII, 105. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 59 

This drama should present merely the few characters "die die Jahrhunderte, 
ja die Jahrtausende als organische Uebergangspunkte vermitteln." The 
Moloch fragment was an attempt to illustrate this type. 

Hebbel's theory of giving milieu brought with it much mass-presentation, 
and in his early days he even attempted a corporate drama of the Wilhelm 
Tell, Hermanns schlacht, and Andreas Hofer type, namely his Dithmarschen. 
At that time (1840) he wrote, 
Das ganze Volk teilte sich in die Viktorie, kein Einzelner trat hervor, aber 

ein Drama aus lauter Volksscenen — ich weiss nicht ob das existiren darf 

Doch, wenn das Stueck auch nur eine recht sinnliche Darstellung alter Volks- 
zustaende giebt, so hat es immer einen gewissen, obgleich nur untergeordneten , 
Wert. 1 

In 1849 he discusses Gaertner's Andreas Hofer and says, 

Sein Drama ist fast planlos, und deshalb kaum zu entwickeln; allein das 

war das Ereigniss das er darstellte, ebenfalls Es fehlt an einem Helden 

im gewoehnlichen Sinn, der als erste Traeger der Handlung im Mittelpunkt 
steht .... denn Hofer giebt keineswegs einen solchen ab. 2 

Still later, in 1859, when discussing Fischer's Masaniello, he is certain 

that a corporate drama is impossible. He writes, 

Das Volk ist der ewig Kranke .... der oft in dem ungeschickten Arzt den 

er erwuergt, das Fiber, das in seinen Knochen schleicht, zu toeten waehnt 

Das Volk ist in seiner kuehnsten Erhebung nichts, als ein fliegender Fisch, der 
von dem Element, dem er entniehen will, seine ganze Schwungkraft entlehnt; 
den fliegenden Fisch malen, heisst das Fliegen parodiren. Wer es mit dem 
Volk gut meint, sollte es nicht zum Gegenstand einer kuenstlerischen Darstellung 
machen.3 

Although he realizes that in his age the mass rather than the individual 
"sich geltend macht," 4 he says in the same remarks on Masaniello, "Ein 
Volk kann den Kampf um die Freiheit nicht eher beginnen, als bis es in 
einer hervorragenden Individualitaet ein Centrum gefunden hat." He 
expresses the opinion that no mass representation has ever shown the mass 
to advantage; such is the case in Egmont, and in the dramas of Shakespeare, 
"den man doch nicht aristokr arise her Vorliebe bezuechtigen will."(!) In 
Schiller's Wilhelm Tell the mass does not seem so despicable, he says; but 
this fact he ascribes to Schiller's use of the "bengalische Flamme." 

Hebbel also makes some statements with regard to the periods of his- 
tory from which choice of material should be made or not made. As 

1 Hebbels Dramaturgic, 85. 3 Ibid, X, 280. 

2 Werhe, XI, 280. 4 Hebbels Dramaturgic, 44. 



60 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

a general rule he demands that the periods and persons chosen should still 
be a living possession in thought and feeling, that one should not present 
"das uns voellig Abgestorbene." 1 The "Hohenstaufenbandwuermer" 
he despises because the imperial struggles were "ausgangslos." 2 Shake- 
speare's Histories, however, are well chosen, for "mit einem grossartigen 
Blick in das wahrhaft Lebendige .... stellte er dar, was noch im Bewusst- 
sein seines Volkes lebte, weil es noch daran zu tragen und zu zehren hatte, 
den Krieg der roten Rose mit der weissen, die Hoellenausgeburte des 
Kampfes und die ... . aufdaemmernden Segnungen des endlichen 
Friedens." 3 In spite of this strict demand he nevertheless was sometimes 
able to appreciate living incorporation of the past even when removed in 
thought and feeling, as in the case of Uhland's Herzog Ernst and Ludwig 
der BaierA Modern subjects, such as Frederick the great and Napoleon, 
he considers permissible, but since he believes in typical characterization, 
he thinks such a subject difficult to handle. The closeness of modern his- 
toric personalities to us makes the exact determination of their typical 
significance, and the necessary simplifying and idealizing, especially 
difficult.* 

Hebbel, having the idea that every epoch shows some stage in man's 
development, and that the drama should picture this stage, thus being 
"zeitgemaess," 6 goes still farther along this line when he says that the 
dramatist who 

dereinst der schaudernden Menschheit an einem erschoepfenden Beispiel wird 
veranschaulichen wollen, welch ein aeusserstes in der Welt moeglich ist, so lange 
sie unbedingt von der unumschraenkten Willkuer eines Einzelnen, jeder mensch- 
lichen Schwaeche unterworfenen und nicht einmal gegen Wahn und Bloedsinn 
geschuetzten Individuums abhaengt, wird er den Schatten Struensees herauf- 
beschwoeren. 7 

A picture would be given of self-destroying absolutism, and he thinks 
that such a drama would fight "fuer die liberalen Ideen." 8 On the other 
hand he does not approve of using dramas as a vehicle of "Tendenz," the 
custom so common since the preachings of the "Junge Deutschland," 
and criticizes Bauernfeld, and especially Prutz for this fault. 10 

* Werke, XI, 58. 

2 Ibid., 60. 3 Ibid. 

4 Ibid., X, 372. Koch, Drama und Geschichte bei Hebbel, 42, makes this point. 

s Werhe, X, 122; Tagebuecher, IV, 129; Koch, 45. 

*Werhe, XI, 48. 

7 Ibid., XI, 291. 9 Ibid., 40. 

8 Ibid., 301, 302. IO Ibid., 341-42. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 6l 

Finally, Hebbel is one of the first to distinguish types of the historic 
drama. His theory considers every drama, every real drama, historic in 
a big typical sense as representative of the stages of the world-process; 1 
he acknowledges, however, a drama which is "subjectiv-individuell," and 
one which is "partiell-national," like his Dithmarschen. 2 

Hebbel marked the culmination of the movement which tried to 
incorporate pure philosophy of history in the drama. From now on, 
dramatists and critics show a different spirit. 

In a feeling of opposition against the philosophic treatment of the 
historic "idea" in the drama, Hettner writes, "Der instinktive Drang der 
# heutigen Poesie geht darauf, ganz dem realistischen Wesen 

der Zeit gemaess, in realistischer Individualisirung die gros- 
sen objektiven Maechte und Interessen der Geschichte darzustellen."^ 
He holds very strongly the view that the historic drama should be trans- 
formed into a character-tragedy. He thinks that the historic material, 
which may be handled freely, should be arranged subservient to one chief 
character, and that the "Chronicle" technique, which he says the mature 
Shakespeare repudiated, is not to be followed. He opposes very strongly 
the idea disseminated by Romanticists that epic breadth is necessary in 
this type of drama. He commends the fact that Shakespeare makes the 
fall of Coriolanus the result not of political necessity, but of the circum- 
stance that pride made him a traitor. "Was geht uns in der Poesie die 
Geschichte als Geschichte an ?" 4 

Freytag believes that the historic drama seeks "das wirklich Geschehene 
so zu verstehen .... wie es tatsaechlich in die Erscheinung getreten 
t war." 5 He recognizes types of historic dramas according 

as the poet gives either an interesting character, or "das 
Schlagende des wirklichen Geschicks," or " interessante Zeitfarbe." 6 
Freytag's lack of real historic seriousness, however, is seen in the permis- 
sion that he gives the poet to invent, if his invention is not felt by his con- 
temporaries as in contradiction to historic truth. He warns against present- 
ing political history and believes only in pragmatic motivation of events. 
Only one chief historic action or at most a few actions should be taken 
and used as background. 7 Logical connection between the character of the 
hero and his catastrophe should be visible, and the antique fate that is 

1 Werke, 40. 2 Ibid., 40. 

3 Die romantische Schide in ihrem Zusammenhange mit Goethe und Schiller, 
190 ff. 

4 Hettner, Das moderne Drama. 6 Ibid., 16. 
s Freytag, Technik des Dramas, 14. 7 Ibid., 67. 



62 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

symbolic of the " Naturordnung " is not permissible. 1 The mechanical, 
utilitarian, and superficial nature of most of the hints of this Philistine 
critic is flagrantly apparent when he acknowledges that an audience delights 
in seeing numerous personalities in an historic drama. But he warns 
against this practice because of the difficulty of finding enough actors 
for these parts, and because the possible illness of the actors might 
make difficult the repetition of a drama thus abundantly stocked. 2 

A prince of reactionaries, who defines, analyzes, and elaborates his 
position, is Ludwig. Ludwig feels himself in intuitional and theoretical 
opposition to the metaphysical theories of tragedy, and to 
all post-Shakespearean developments in Germany. Back 
to Shakespeare is his call, to Shakespeare interpreted according to the 
principle of Aristotle and Lessing and — Ludwig. History in his eyes is a 
repertory of personalities who illustrate not political but psychological 
problems. Hence history may only be given as background. 3 The 
action taken from history should be transformed from a " Staatsaktion " 
to a plot of character and passion, 4 should not be "nackte Historie " of outer 
events without informing soul as he finds it in Schiller. 5 When a dramatist 
is not intending to write a real historic drama, he has the right to make 
changes, even serious changes, such as letting a man die who is known to 
have continued to live. 6 

Ludwig believes in finding the typical significance of the individual. 7 
He opposes Schiller for having given, as he thinks, in Wallenstein, the 
"einzelnen Fall." 8 "Krankhaft individuell" he calls Wallenstein.^ He 
believes in giving "nicht was einmal ohne Unwahrscheinlichkeit geschehen 
konnte, sondern wie es immer geschieht, wie es die Regel ist. 10 .... Auch 
bei der Tragoedie ist es die Hauptsache, den Typus im Stofle zu sehen. 11 
.... alle schlechthin individuellen Zuege muessen entfernt werden." 12 
Time and place should be vague and not individualized. 13 If Hebbel desired 
above all things to show the connection between the individual and the 
individualized milieu, Ludwig, in conscious opposition to this, says, "Der 

1 Freytag, Technik des Dramas, 81. 

2 Ibid., 206. 

3 Ludwig, Shakespeare Studien (Heydrich's ed.), 55. 

4 Ibid., Werhe (edited by Stern), V, 191, 313-14. 

s Ibid., 320. 7 Ibid., 67 ff., 254 ff., 417, 449 ff. 

6 Ibid., 345. % Ibid., 261. 

9 Ibid., 304; "zufaellig individuell," ibid., 225. 

10 Ibid., 68. 12 iud., 68. 

11 Ibid., 449. *3 Ibid., 473, etc. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 63 

Dichter hat einen einzigen Typus herauszunehmen (aus der Geschichte), 
alle Seitenwurzeln abzuschneiden, ihm vollstaendig von vorn, von hinten, 
und nach alien Seiten abzuschliessen und zu isoliren, und dann den voll- 
staendigen Verlauf des Typus vor unser koerperliches und geistiges Auge 
zu bringen." 1 

The chief interest of the poet in Ludwig's eyes is the character, the 
passion, and the development of the character. 2 Causal connection must 
be visible, although not pedantically so. 3 Hence, since the conflict of the 
tragic character is the chief interest, all epic breadth and detail must be 
eliminated. The passion and character of the hero, not the "Umstaende," 
must be the cause of the catastrophe. 4 "Der Held darf nicht unschuldig 
leiden." 5 Early in the drama the hero, in consequence of his passion and 
character, should with free will do some deed, some deed of guilt, the inevit- 
able consequence of which entails the catastrophe. 6 Hence Ludwig opposes 
Schiller's insistence on the importance of the "Umstaende," 7 that is, his 
determination of the catastrophe by the particular historic constellation. 8 
He criticizes strongly Schiller's "Bemaentelung der Schuld." "Schiller 
sagt, mein Held kann kaum anders." 9 He says that in Schiller 

leidet der Held nicht die Folge seiner eigenen Handlungen die sich raechend 
gegen ihn wenden, sondern er leidet ohne Schuld; das Schicksal ist Zufall; die 
Fuegung, das Goettliche, ist eine dumpf grausame Naturkraft, die eine Schaden- 
freude hat, das Schoene in den Staub zu treten, das Erhabene zu erniedrigen. 10 

He opposes also Hegel, Hebbel, and those dramatists who show the 
hero "als Opfer der materiell maechtigeren Gegenpartei, 11 who shift his 
guilt upon the shoulders of the age, and who try to show the right of the 
wrong, and the wrong of the right. 12 Concerning Hebbel he says emphati- 
cally, "Das Schicksal ist bei Hebbel mehr ein Ergebniss der Zeit, in der 
seine Menschen leben, als das ihres eigenen Tuns. Sie leiden nicht was 
ihre eigene Natur, sondern was die Denkart der Zeit, ihnen auferlegt, die 
in ihnen handelt." 13 Thus it is clear that Ludwig has no conception either 

1 Ludwig, Werke (edited by Stern), VT, 411. 

2 Ibid., 63, 449. 

3 Ibid., 106. 

4 Ibid., 104, 105, 254 ff., 320, 446, etc. 

s Heydrich, 12; see also Ludwig, op. cit., V, 260 f., 424, etc. 

6 Ludwig op. cit., V, 416-17. IO Ludwig, op. cit., V, 321. 

7 Ibid., 254. JI Ibid., 54. 

8 Ibid., 257. - " ibid., 55. 

9 Heydrich, 54, 55. 13 Ibid., 358 f. 



64 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

of a corporate historic drama, or of the modern scientific comprehension 
of milieu determination of character, conflict, and catastrophe. 

In interesting contrast to these latter views is the historic drama as 
found in Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean. The thoroughly Hegelian con- 
ception of the march of the "Weltgeist," of the "List der 
Idee," found and expressed in the drama, is seen to have 
been a conscious attitude when one compares with the drama the fol- 
lowing words written to Brandes: 

Waehrend der Beschaeftigung mit Julian bin ich in gewisser Weise Fatalist 
geworden; aber dieses Stueck wird doch eine Art Fahne. Haben Sie uebrigens 
keine Angst vor irgend welchem Tendenzwesen; ich sehe auf die Charaktere, 
auf die sich kreuzenden Plaene, auf die Geschichte; und gebe mich nicht mit 
der "Moral" des ganzen ab — vorausgesetzt dass sie unter der Moral der 
Geschichte nicht ihre Philosophic verstehen: denn dass eine solche als das end- 
gueltige Urteil ueber Kampt und Sieg zum Vorschein kommen wird, versteht 
sich von selbst. 1 

Coming to the criticisms of the present, one still finds differences of 
opinion, and it is only necessary to make a few representative quotations. 
Rudolph Lothar holds the traditional view that the his- 
toric drama should be character-drama, but demands 
truth of character and event, and growth of both out of milieu. 2 
Gustav Welthly says, 

Der moderne Dichter sucht nicht mehr seine persoenliche Weltanschauung, 

sein sittliches Empfinden, in laengst entschwundene Zeiten hineinzutragen, 
sondern er sucht, mit dem Microscop der Quellenforschung 
bewaflnet, vergangene Milieus zu rekonstruiren, urn dann aus 

denselben die Menschen nicht nur im historisch echten Mantel, sondern von 

historisch echtem Blut belebt erstehen zu sehen.s 

Borinski says that it is the poet's "Bestreben die Raetsel menschlicher 

Geschichte und Charaktere aus den tatsaechlichen Ereignissen der Welt- 

geschicht zu erklaeren und verstehen" ; but also, "Die 
Rovinski 

Geschichte dient dem Dichter nur als das erhoehte, alien 

sichtbare Geruest, auf dem an weltbekannten Ereignissen die ewigen 

Fragen des Geistes und Herzens, durchaus keine politischen oder dergleichen 

Abhandlungen zum Austrag kommen. "4 

1 Ibsen, Brief e, September 24, 1871. 

3 Rudolph Lothar, Das Drama der Gegenwart, 310 f. 

3 Gustav Welthly, Dramen der Gegenwart, 127. 

4 Karl Borinski, Das Theater. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 65 

Hans von Gumppenberg, in his Einleitung to Koenig Konrad I, says 
Hans von that he aims to give a " dramatische Verlebendigung der 

(xunippenberg* deutschen Vergangenheit," "einen ganzen Zeitabschnitt, 
nicht bloss enge Familienschicksale." 

Von der Pfordten is the only one who tries to give an extended account 
of the nature of the historic drama. He defines it as being the result 
Von der °f a true historic as well as poetic interest; he insists on 

Pfordten historic insight, and demands that an historic drama give 

a true picture of the past reality. He recognizes the necessity of an epic 
technique, and upholds a broad conception of unity. His chief interests 
seem to be the giving of national history for patriotic edification, and the 
vivifying of history by presenting the soul-life of the personalities involved. 
He demands individualistic, not typical, characterization. On the whole, 
his idea of historic drama is pragmatic rather than corporate. He has no 
conception of historic movement and necessity. 1 

The conception of the corporate historic drama, whose gradual develop- 
ment has been followed, receives interesting, although brief and partial, 
Lublinski, definition and analysis in Lublinski, Liter atur und Gesell- 
R. M. Meyer schaft im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, and in Richard M. 
Meyer's Die deutsche Literatur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Lublinski, 
when interpreting the work of Schiller, especially Wallenstein, speaks 
of a " Causalitaetsdrama, " which he says was Schiller's undefined and 
subconscious aim; and Meyer, when interpreting Grabbe and Haupt- 
mann, calls this same type of drama the "realistisches Historiendrama 
grossen Stils," and " historisches Volksdrama grossen Stils." Lublinski 
believes that the hero, whose character is the inevitably determined response 
to the need of the age, should fall as the victim of the "Zeitverhaeltnisse." 2 
R. M. Meyer is especially impressed by the corporate interest of this 
type, and says that the corporate life of the mass in its breadth and varied 
life, after having served as background for the historic fact in Wallen- 
stein and Wilhelm Tell, has become in Grabbe the chief object. The 
wars of Napoleon and Hannibal, he thinks, are merely the means by 
which the continued and solely important life of the market-place of 
Carthage and the street of Berlin is made possible. He insists that 
only a " Collectivheld," not a single hero, can serve as "Traeger der 
Handlung." Nevertheless Grabbe and Hauptmann, he believes, have not 
given sufficient importance to the striking individual or leader, whom 

1 Otto von der Pfordten, Werden und Wesen des historischen Dramas; see critique 
of the book by L. M. Kueffner, Modern Language Notes, January, 1905. 

2 Lublinski, Literatur und Gesellschajt im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, 13 ff. 



66 DEVELOPMENT OE THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

he thinks the mass needs to have before it can act. "Das grosse Volks- 
drama der Zukunft braucht beides: das Volk als Traeger der Handlung, 
den Einzelnen als Traeger des Gedankens." This condition, he says, 
would be fulfilled by a "realistisch gehaltenen Tell." 1 He does not discuss 
the problems of historic march and necessity. 

LATER ENGLISH CRITICISM 

Before summarizing the results of the previous discussions a brief 
reference must be made to English criticisms. In English literature the 
character and passion- type transformations of the epic 
historic drama have held sway to the exclusion of the cor- 
porate type, and the theories have not gone much beyond this conception. 
Even a critic of Coleridge's reputation knows of no better definition of the 
historic drama than the following: "An historic drama .... is ... . 
a collection of events borrowed from history but connected together in 
respect of cause and time, poetically and by dramatic fiction." He thinks 
that the object of the historic drama is "to familiarize people to the great 
names of their country," and to teach "love of just liberty, respect for 
institutions." 2 

Miss Woodbridge, who has adapted the Lessing-Freytag criticism, says, 
National issues .... cannot be handled .... except as they touch upon 
individual human lives. They may, indeed, have a certain large unity, they 
Elizabeth are as truly controlled by laws, and as open to philosophic 

Woodbridge treatment as is the life of a single man, but the drama cannot 
handle them.s .... The drama should show inevitable law more than life. 4 

A broader conception of historic drama is found in Vaughn in connec- 
tion with his criticism of Goethe and Schiller. He writes, 
In what does the originality of the historic drama consist? In what sense 
can it be said to offer a type of play distinct in kind from either classical or Eliza- 
bethan tragedy ? It can, I think, claim to do so if it brings the 
corporate, as distinct from the individualist life of man upon the 
stage; if in the personages of the drama it embodies, more or less completely, 
some aspect of the national, political, or social conflicts of humanity. 

He conceives of this corporate interest as symbolically embodied in a 
striking individual who is presented as a type. 5 

1 R. M. Meyer, Die deutsche Literatur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 810; cf . 
160 ff., 808 ff. 

2 Coleridge, Lectures and Notes on Shakespeare and Other English Poets, 253. 

3 Woodbridge, The Drama, Its Law and Technique, 17. 

4 Ibid., 44. 

5 Vaughn, Types of Tragic Drama, 199 ff., 211. 



DEDUCTION OF CHIEF PROBLEMS 67 

SUMMARY 

The chief points of dramatic theory discussed in the foregoing are: 

1. The aim to reproduce accurately characters, events, and social 
background. 

2. The desire to comprehend an event in its political import apart from 
merely human motivation and interest. 

3. The desire to select those parts of history that represent great turning- 
points, revolutions, or movements in the advance of history. 

4. The effort to present this movement in its larger corporate interest 
represented by masses rather than by single individuals, giving a large 
"section" and a complex rather than a single plot. 

5. The realization of the counter-reactions between individual and mass 
or milieu. 

6. The willingness to accept events as they actually happened by an 
historic necessity of subtle sweep, and not as fitted into a logical retribution- 
scheme. 

7. The endeavor to reflect in the construction or "inner form" of the 
historic drama the philosophically comprehended process of inevitable 
historic advance. 

It is clear that in the subjects that have thus come successively into 
the plane of discussion there is a visible advance from the simple and 
elementary points discussed in an age of naive creation — an age that had 
little grasp of a philosophy of history, and that had not yet dreamed of a 
metaphysical interpretation of the dramatic form — to the deepest and 
most complex problems suggested by philosophical and historical specula- 
tion, as well as by deductions from the experiences of an ever-growing 
democracy and empiricism. 

It can be said, in summary, that there has been a growth in honest 
historic interest, a growth in the ineradicable desire to present the true his- 
tory of single individuals that have actually lived, of their characters, and 
of their actions apart from the romance of love-passion, and more particu- 
larly, the desire to present truthfully an historic event of political import 
in its broad effects, and unfalsified by national or partisan feeling. The 
unhistorical nature of the types of the drama in which history is used 
merely as the means of furnishing dramatists with trappings or as a reper- 
toire of characters, fatalities, and passions, from which they may choose at 
will, is recognized. On the other hand there has been a distinct develop- 
ment of an interest for types whose purpose is entirely or almost entirely 
historic. While the predilection for mere individualistic character-drama 
has remained, the conception of a complex, corporate, political drama, 



68 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

corresponding to the modern form of "historic science" discussed above, 
has gradually been evolved. This type, which is necessarily more epic 
in its structure, has struggled for development since its birth in the days 
of the English Chronicle Histories. The present thesis aims to prove that 
it is a legitimate type, and that it need not necessarily have been transformed 
into the character-tragedy, or the romantic comedy, or the comedy of 
manners, or the romantic tragedy of passion as was the case in England. 
Although most writers on English literature affirm that this was the only 
possibility, the effort will be made to show that it did actually develop 
otherwise in Germany, where was found the same love of actual historic 
adventure that had been found in England; where this historical sense, 
stimulated by the repertoire of the English comedians, was kept alive 
through all the crudity of the "Haupt- und Staatsaktionen"; and where 
Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen, definitely stimulated by Shakespeare's 
Histories, but containing in itself the germ of a new conception of unity, 
became the first drama in a whole new development. On the other hand, 
the conceptions of the philosophy of history, applied to the drama, produced 
a form of drama that can best be called the symbolical, typical process- 
drama. 



PART II 
THE CHIEF TYPES OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

I 

The confusion concerning the conception and dramaturgy of the his- 
toric play, and the uncertainty as to the function of history in the drama, 
have been due to the fact that ever since the birth of the historic drama in 
the days of Shakespeare, two conflicting tendencies have been at work to 
produce a mixed type of tragedy, to which almost all serious dramas belong. 

On the one hand, the authority and example of antique, especially 
Senecan, " tragedy" fed man's interest for the individual psychological 
conflicts of a few chief characters. The conflicts usually illustrated the 
reversals of fortune of known personalities of high rank. The interest, 
however, centered not in the historic experiences of definite individuals, 
but in the sufferings and fortitude of these personalities conceived as uni- 
versally human types. The historic names of the heroes were mere survivals 
and accident, and they entailed no historic defmiteness of any kind. Sim- 
plicity of structure and strict observance of the unities were demanded. 1 

On the other hand, another type of drama, the "historic," had been 
developed as the result of an interest for broader historic movements such 
as conspiracies, riots, rebellions, civil and national wars, and for the 
strange and marvelous fates of definite individuals who had taken part in 
these struggles, and who likewise illustrated so largely the "falls of 
princes." In those days of dramatic enthusiasm, the accounts in the 
numerous chronicles of what was believed to be true history were freely 
translated into the dramatic form that had characterized the "Mys- 
teries." There was no thought of restricting the play to the presenta- 
tion of one crisis or of a single action, no thought of showing logical 
connection between the events. 

For a number of years the two types of drama lived amicably side by 
side. The First Folio classified Shakespeare's serious plays as "tragedies" 
or as "histories." It is true that the thought in making this classification 
was probably due to the fact that the plays called "histories" treated of 
English history, and not to the fact that they treated of history as such, or 

1 Cf. Fischer, Die Kunstentwicklung der englischen Tragoedie; Cunliffe, The 
Influence of Seneca on Elizabethan Tragedy; Saintsbury, History of Criticism, II. 

69 



70 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

because one felt that they were characterized by a broader technique, and 
that this broader technique was a consequence of the historic subject. 
Thus Antony and Cleopatra, which largely suggests the Chronicle form, 
was called a " tragedy," 1 while Richard II, with its more concentrated 
structure, was called a "historic" Nevertheless the distinction was made, 
and was felt strongly enough by the English comedians for them to advertise 
their repertoire in Germany on the oldest German theatrical announcement, 
that of Nuernberg, in the words, "Es werden agirt Tragoedien . . . . 
Historien." 

However, as early as 1581 Sidney had quoted the Aristotelian remarks 
that poetry is higher than history, and that historic material should be 
fitted into the mold of "tragedy"; he had expressed the doctrine of the 
observance of the unities, and had suggested that much of the action of a 
play should be related, not represented. 2 In spite of the subsequent devel- 
opment of the "historie" type, and in spite of the achievements of Shake- 
speare, these structural demands were urged ever more insistently. These 
teachings, and the examples given in the plays of Seneca, caused a fusion 
of the two types of drama, and of the interest in typical themes and charac- 
ters on the one hand, and in definite conflicts and individuals on the other 
hand. Yet it was less a fusion than a victory of the "tragedy." It was 
thought that the epic "chronicle history" was an impossible type, and that 
it had to be transformed into the typical "character-tragedy," as had been 
the case in Shakespeare's Richard III, and still more in Macbeth. The 
result of this demand was the development of the mixed type of drama called 
"tragedy," in which the historic interest is found in varying proportions 
of definiteness and conscientiousness, and in which the severe Aristotelian 
structure is again and again broken, because pictures are often given in 
these plays of broader historic movements and backgrounds. In England, 
and especially in France, the proportion of historic interest was small. 
In Germany, however, since the days when Shakespeare's "histories" 
became known, the historic interest has struggled for recognition more and 
more, until some critics and writers have at last realized that the historic 
drama represents a definite type of drama, and that it cannot possibly be 
made to conform even to modified Aristotelian rules except in rare cases of 
individualist character presentation. 

In this mixed type, then, called " tragedy," to which belong the greater 
number of serious dramas that have been written, the hero is a great historic 

1 Indeed the word "tragedie" was used descriptively of all reversals of fortune. 
Thus the older Richard III had been called a "true tragedy." 

2 Sidney, Apologie for Poetrie, Westminster, 1901. 



CHIEF TYPES OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 7 1 

person. His conflict, however, whether historically attested or invented, 
is a private psychological experience, passional, not political, in nature. 
This passional psychological experience in its logical connection with the 
typical character that is presented is the main interest; hence this drama 
is, after all, private, not historic. The question of historic fidelity matters 
little, for the historic setting is mere scenery and decoration; simplicity 
of plot and of hero is an advantage; and the guilt and recompense formula 
may be applied to the historic reality as much as the poet wishes. The 
less these plays are given of specific definiteness, the more typical and 
mythical they can be made, the more perfect they will be as " tragedies." 
Almost the whole body of "tragedy" generated by the Senecan example 
and by the Aristotelian influence must be classed here. The type 
includes such extremes as Shakespeare's Macbeth and Coriolanus, as 
Corneille's Cinna, as Schiller's Maria Stuart and Wallenstein, and as 
Goethe's Egmont. The historic interest that is revealed in the last 
two tragedies is so great that one is almost unwilling to confess that they 
are not true historic dramas. In Goethe and Schiller the desire to 
write a "tragedy" was in conflict with an inborn instinct for historic life 
and breadth; the latter caused them to transcend the narrow tradi- 
tional bounds of tragedy-structure and tragedy- theme. 

In spite of the submersion of the historic interest, this mixed type 
nevertheless contained in itself the possibilities of true historic drama, of 
the individualist as also of the corporate type. 

Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen had presented much real historic 
material, and had produced a whole series of similar "Ritterdramen." 
These led Schiller to a recognition of the historic drama as a distinct type, 
and he contrasted it with his own "mittlere Gattung." 

A new chapter in the development of the historic drama opened when, 
in consequence of the belief that history is the progressive self-revelation 
of the world-spirit, the Romanticists advised the writing of historic dramas, 
and the observance of accuracy in the presentation of movements and 
individuals. "Historic drama" and "tragedy" were still felt to coincide, 
but in an entirely novel sense. The tragic mold was now regarded merely 
as a formula that expressed the nature of historic experience, and the historic 
experience itself was the chief interest. One group of writers, those that were 
under the influence of Shakespeare's historical plays, aimed, like Grabbe, 
at truthful representation of concrete history. Hebbel, who represents the 
metaphysical group, apprehended the world-process and its epochs in uni- 
versalized and not specific terms, and consequently recognized the possi- 
bility of having a symbolic type of drama which he calls "das Drama," 



72 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

in addition to the older types which he calls "subjectiv-individuell," and 
' ' partiell-national. "* 

Koch, in his book, Drama und Geschichte bei Hebbel, rewords Hebbel's 
classification, and calls the types "welthistorisch-symbolisch," " psycho - 
logisch-historisch," and "national-historisch." He adds to this a type 
which he calls " historisches Ideendrama," which he says is a "typische 
Abart" of the drama which Hebbel called "subjektiv-individuell," and 
which he himself termed "psychologisch-historisch." 2 

Hettner, who voiced a reaction against the philosophical and realistic 
tendencies, maintained sternly that the epic historic drama is not an inde- 
pendent type. He recognized only the character-tragedy or mixed type. 3 

Gutzkow distinguishes the " historisches Genrebild," and a drama 
which he calls "rein historisch-dramatisch." 4 

Freytag finds three types of historic dramas: one which aims to give 
a true presentation of an historic personality, one which aims to give "Zeit- 
farbe," and one which pictures "das Schlagende des wirklichen Geschicks." 5 

Von der Pfordten speaks of dramas concerning historic personalities 
as being either "zeitlos," "halbhistorisch," or "historisch." 6 

R. M. Meyer, finally, speaks of a "reales Historiendrama einer neuen 
Zeit," or "historisches Volksdrama." 7 

It is evident, then, that there has never been a serious attempt to classify 
carefully the existing historic dramas. Although comparatively few of 
them are wholly honest in historic purpose, although few emancipate them- 
selves completely from the mixed type, and although the historic interests 
found in them are infinitely varied in their nature and points of view, yet 
it is possible to disengage tendencies that point to the existence of several 
distinct varieties. These tendencies correspond in the main, first, to the 
recitative and pragmatic, or individualist conception of history; secondly, 
to the philosophical; and thirdly, to the genetic conception of history. 
When once it is clearly recognized that those types of historic drama which 
are the product of a conscientious effort to comprehend and present actual 
political or social processes are totally distinct in aim and method from 

* Hebbel, Werhe, XI, 40. 

2 Koch, Drama und Geschichte bei Hebbel, 38 £f., 51. 

3 Hettner, Das moderne Drama, 38. 

4 Einleitung to Wullenweber. 

5 Freytag, Technih des Dramas, 16. 

6 Von der Pfordten, Werden und Wesen des historischen Dramas. 

7 R. M. Meyer, Die deutsche Literatur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, in the inter- 
pretations of Grabbe and Hauptmann. 



CHIEF TYPES OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 73 

those types of historic drama that are concerned with individualist themes 
of passion or character, then it will be recognized that these types do not 
interfere with one another. Then the legitimacy of pure historic drama — 
in particular, of the corporate movement-drama — may come to be more 
generally conceded, and the future may bring it to interesting and valuable 
fruition. 

II 
It must be borne in mind constantly that in making the following 
classification there is no thought of making the classes absolute, but 
merely an effort to define predominating tendencies. Dramas whose 
aim is primarily historic show an individualistic, a symbolic, and a 
corporate type. In illustration of these types many dramas will be 
mentioned that are not free from unhistoric elements and intentions. 
They are considered because they do illustrate, more or less perfectly, 
lines along which the pure historic drama is developing. 1 

THE INDIVIDUALISTIC CHARACTER-DRAMA 

Here one can have (i) a variety in which the conflict is the personal, 
individual experience of a few chief characters; the result of the conflict 
is a true historic event which produces far-reaching effects, or which is, 
at least, publicly interesting. The motivation of the action is personal 
and passional. Here the interest is both historic and psychological, for 
it consists in the desire to fathom the individually psychological origin of 
some real public action. The plot merely suggests the broader results 
Of the action or event. The determining environment may be meager, 
or full and detailed. In its ideal form this variety would be free from 
distortion of known fact either for the purpose of making motives more 
humanly comprehensible, or to fit the plot into the guilt and recompense 
formula. 

Browning's Strafford would seem to belong here. Strafford's fall is 
demanded by the "public weal," as represented especially by Pym; we 
see somewhat of the complexity of the opposing power, as well as 
of Strafford's party, yet the chief interest is the analysis of the passional 
motives that had determined Strafford's actions. Ibsen's Kongsemne, 
Hebbel's Agnes Bernauer, Kleist's Prinz von Homburg, if indeed we did 
not know of the fictitiousness of the conflict between Elector and Homburg, 
likewise seem to illustrate this type. Biographical plays like the Elizabethan 
Sir Thomas More can also be classed here. The pragmatic tendency to 
teach lessons of loyalty to kings, or of patriotism, or of the sacrifice of the 

1 The illustrative examples are merely mentioned at this juncture, not explained. 



74 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

individual to the needs of the whole is illustrated in such plays as Chapman's, 
as Collin's Regulus, as Kleist's Prinz von Homburg, as Grillparzer's Juedin 
von Toledo, or as Hebbel's Agnes Bernauer. 

One can have (2) a modication of this type. When a full picture of the 
determining background is given, when this background is conceived as 
a conflict of races or ages, when the individual psychological conflict in 
the foreground is felt to express symbolically the larger conflict, and when, 
finally, the conflict of epochs in the background is felt as a stage in the 
development of the world-spirit — then we have the type which is illustrated 
in Hebbel's Judith and in his Herodes und Mariamne. This type coincides 
with the first variety of the symbolic drama which is discussed below. 

It is possible to have (3) a variety of the individualistic historic drama 
which corresponds to what Gutzkow called " historisches Genrebild." 
Here the setting and background reproduce a definite past time and place; 
the plot is either real or invented, and is a psychological, individual experi- 
ence of private result and bearing. The interest here too is in part historic 
and in part psychological. The historic background must be true, and the 
plot historically possible. A picture is given of an epoch of civilization. 
This type seems analogous to such efforts as Riehl's Kulturgeschichtliche 
Novellen, or as some of the Ahnen of Freytag. Kleist's Kaethchen von 
Heilbronn can be classed here, and one can even extend the type so 
as to include Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm and Schiller's Kabale 
und Liebe. It may be thought, perhaps, that the conditions of mem- 
bership to this type have been made amply liberal, so inclusive as to 
make the division meaningless. Yet, in a sense, a social drama whose 
environmental tendencies are true to actuality, whether past or present, 
is historical in the sense used by Hebbel in his " Vorwort" to Maria Mag- 
dalena, and a classification of historic dramas can well include such plays 
where they have aimed to give a true picture of actual social tendencies. 
At any rate, it is clear that the bounding line of this type is very elusive. 

THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS-DRAMA 

The symbolic process-drama is the result of the human tendency to 
direct the attention to the general rather than to the specific qualities of 
objects and processes. This tendency helps us in the matter of finding our 
bearings in the midst of the distracting variety of things among which we 
are placed. Epochs of history, conceived as typical stages in the life-story 
of "Mankind" — or of the "Absolute" — are themselves the subjects of 
these dramas. In some of them the Infinite is represented as a prin- 
ciple that fills and directs the Finite; the cosmic powers speak visibly 



CHIEF TYPES OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 75 

through human embodiments. This type does not exclude passional 
character-presentation. 

Here one can have (i) a variety where the conflict of epochs is given as 
a revolutionary background illustrated in the foreground by a representative 
individual conflict, a conflict which is seen to be a result of the larger con- 
flict. This is the type described also as the second variety of the individual- 
istic drama. Most of Hebbel's dramas belong here. 

We come (2) to a type of symbolic drama where the conflicting ages and 
tendencies are not given merely as backgrounds of illustrative conflicts, but 
where the great cultural movements themselves furnish the action of the 
foreground. This is done by embodying in a few symbolic human repre- 
sentatives the cultural forces which are the bearers of the action. The 
cultural movement is conceived typically as a universally human movement 
which can occur now in one race, and now in another. Goethe's Natuer- 
liche Tochter, that is, the trilogy, if it had been completed, Grillparzer's 
Libussa, and especially Hebbel's Moloch, illustrate this type. 

This brings us (3) to a type in which the theme is likewise the revolution- 
ary conflict itself. This time, however, the conflicting forces are concretely 
represented by many or fewer known historic individuals, together with 
an interested and determining environment. This type is illustrated by 
Ibsen's Julian, and to some extent by Hebbel's Judith at one end, and by 
Grabbe's Hermannsschlacht at the other end. At this end it is identical 
with the corporate movement-drama wherever the latter presents the historic 
movement with a philosophic consciousness of its larger cosmic significance. 

THE CORPORATE MOVEMENT-DRAMA 

This is the species which was foreshadowed by the English Chronicle 
Histories, but which was distorted under the influence of the "tragedy"; 
it is the species that has again and again struggled for freer life and develop- 
ment. It is the drama which R. M. Meyer has, it seems to me, in mind 
when he speaks of a "reales Historiendrama einer neuen Zeit," or of "his- 
torisches Volksdrama grossen Stils." In some of its forms it is identical 
with the third variety of the symbolic type. 

Here, then, a large picture of far-reaching historic events is given, in 
which the interest for the individual's private problem recedes before the 
interest in the problem of the masses; the aim is to give a true historic 
picture in its broad effects, to represent concrete historic movements of 
large importance. The interest is in many persons and in the whole of which 
they are a part; it is political or social, not passional or private. The mass, 
including its greater individuals, not the predominating great Individual, 



76 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

is the hero of the drama. The individuals that appear, the conflicts, the 
determining conditions, and the events, are presented in particular and not 
in typical terms. Instead of poetic justice, of guilt and retribution, we 
find the acceptance of events as vindicated by mere occurrence. 

This type is illustrated, more or less perfectly, in such plays as Shake- 
speare's Henry VI, as Goethe's Goetz and Egmont, as Schiller's Wilhelm 
Tell, as the various plays concerning the Hermannsschlacht and Andreas 
Hofer, as Grabbe's Napoleon, as Hauptmann's Florian Geyer and Die 
Weber. 

The historic movements that have offered themselves as subjects for 
dramas of this kind have usually been conflicts such as international wars 
of conquest or struggles for liberation; or conflicts such as class struggles 
of all kinds, uprisings of oppressed classes, liberations from tyranny, con- 
spiracies, revolutions, and civil wars generally. From these struggles 
subjects of historic dramas have again and again been taken; yet, as has 
been previously developed, they have rarely been adequately dramatized 
as movements, because men believed that dramas ought to deal with indi- 
vidual psychological experiences; and because, not understanding the genetic 
interpretation of history, they were naturally more interested in these 
individual problems. It would seem as though an inexhaustible field were 
here waiting for dramatic reinterpretations in the light of modern social 
sympathy and in the light of modern historic comprehension. 



PART III 

THE NATURE AND THE TECHNIQUE OF THE CORPORATE 
MOVEMENT-DRAMA 

All the types of historic drama, except the corporate movement-drama, 
will, on the whole, be constructed along the lines that have been found 
effective for the "tragedy." There will be, it is true, a stricter observance 
of historic accuracy; characterization will be specific rather than typical; 
and logical motivation from scene to scene and from character to catastrophe 
will be somewhat less rigid; yet the differences of technique will not neces- 
sarily be radical. It is quite otherwise in the case of the corporate 
movement-drama. The old dicta concerning unity of plot and of hero, 
concerning logical motivation, concerning the connection of guilt with 
catastrophe, and concerning typical characterization, are not at all 
applicable to this type. 

On the basis of my study of historic dramas, and of the theories con- 
cerning the relation between history and the drama, I offer the following 
exposition of what seems to me a legitimate type of historic drama, a type 
which evolution is tending more and more to differentiate and to perfect. 
In connection with the discussion of the various points the reader is referred 
constantly to the opinions concerning these matters quoted in Part I. In 
Part IV existing historic dramas will be studied with reference to their 
contribution to the evolution of this type. 

The corporate movement-drama, then, is a type of drama that 
presents and interprets historic movements in the terms of dramatic 
impersonation and representation. It gives a picture of numerous 
interests, of personages, events, and circumstances that are historic, 
colored and determined by the definite time and place depicted; 
its prime intention is specific and realistic. Moreover, it presents 
them, not as private and individually interesting fates or facts — be 
it of adventure or of a universal human conflict realized in an 
historic individual — but only in so far as they manifest the mighty 
life of a great whole; they have interest chiefly in their relation 
to the realization of important world-values. In other words, an historic 
epoch is presented as a movement of comprehensive interests and relations, 
in which large masses and society as a whole are affected, and inside of which 
private contingencies and tragedies of course play their part. This move- 

77 



78 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

ment is seen to be a conflict between inevitably produced antithetical mass 
tendencies which are reflected in all the individuals; therefore the collision 
itself is inevitable; everything is the product of historic necessity. If one 
defines "fate" as the symbol of the compulsion due to the influence 
of natural necessity, of heredity, and of environment, in the determining 
of characters and actions, then it is clear that in a deep and interesting 
sense the corporate movement-drama is a fate-drama. 

On the basis of the preceding definition, several important technical 
deductions must be made. 

I 

First, it is frankly avowed that the interest is political or social, not 
passional. It is therefore not necessary to convert into character-tragedies 
the political actions or "Staatsaktionen" which Schiller and so many others 
had thought were unfitting subjects for the drama. 

II 

Inasmuch as the subject is a big movement that affects whole masses, 
the old conceptions of unity of plot and unity of hero are broadened. The 
principle of unity is given by the philosophic comprehension of the historic 
movement. Inasmuch as this movement results from the conflict of com- 
plex forces, the drama is very likely to have a multiple plot and a multiple 
hero or heroes, often mass against mass, or mass plus individuals against 
mass plus individuals. The mass itself is the collective or corporate hero. 
The striking individuals have meaning only in their relation to the mass out 
of which they rise, and with which they either quarrel or co-operate. Thus 
one of the main aims of this historic drama is to give a full picture of the 
mass in its complex life, influence, and volition. The individual is seen 
to be only one of the mass, influenced, demanded, molded by it, as well 
as influencing it; however mighty his individualism, he leads no insular 
existence, he is the product and even the instrument of his milieu; and he 
can do nothing without being either aided or hampered by it. 

NOTE TO 11 
Aristotle {Poetics), Lessing {Hamburgische Dramaturgie) , Freytag {Die 
Technik des Dramas), and the rank and file everywhere had demanded that the 
action center about one main hero. Franz {Aufbau der Handlung in den 
klassischen Dramen), Weitbrecht {Das deutsche Drama), Bulthaupt {Dramaturgie 
des Schauspiels), and others, broaden this conception very slightly when they 
analyze plays like Wilhelm Tell. Ulrici, in his discussion of Shakespeare's 
historic plays, demands unity of idea rather than of hero. Von der Pfordten 
{Das Werden und Wesen des historischen Dramas) demands greater freedom. 



THE CORPORATE DRAMA 79 

Hauptmann's Die Weber, like Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, has helped to make critics 
see that it is possible to have a collective instead of a single hero; this point is 
made by R. M. Meyer {Die deutsche Literatur des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts) and 
by others. 

Ill 
Since the corporate political movement and the complex forces that 
take part in the conflict are the main interest, neither the plot nor the 
individuals involved need be "distinguished" or "interesting" in the 
old sense. It is the mass, just the rank and file in its corporate signifi- 
cance, that interests us. 

NOTE TO III 

Aristotle demands that the characters of a tragedy should be above the common 
level {Poetics, chaps. 15, 13, and also 9). This law was universally accepted, 
and is upheld also by Volkelt {Die Aesthetik des Tragischen, chap, v, ed. of 1897); 
concerning the singly uninteresting weavers in Hauptmann's drama, he says, 
"Wohl aber tritt durch die Webermasse als Masse der soziale Hintergrund und 
Zusammenhang als etwas Neues hinzu, und von hier aus eben stammt das Hinaus- 
wachsen ins Grosse." 

IV 

The method of characterization is specific, not typical, because the 
very word "historic" refers to phenomena and personalities as they occur 
only once. 

note to rv 

This point has been fully illustrated in Part I. Von der Pfordten emphatically 
demands specific characterization, in conscious opposition to the earlier view. 

V 

Moreover, outer visible happening takes the place of inner trans- 
formation and development; thus there may be much vulgar clash 
of arms, much presentation of actions that do not appear to be clearly 
and psychologically motived as the results of individual passion and charac- 
ter; yet, if the dramatist has grasped the psychology of the movement, 
under it all will be felt the real pulse of history, which indeed could not 
be presented in any other way. Actions must, of course, not be in dis- 
harmony with character, but psychological motivation confines itself chiefly 
to showing that all the individuals are determined by their age and 
environment. 

VI 

Nor need the action or plot show constant logical dramatic advance, 
for the necessary presentation of many threads, and the giving of milieu, 



80 DEVELOPMENT OP THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

as also the definite individualization of personalities, involve much epic 
breadth; there may be scenes that add little or nothing to the advance of 
the action. 

NOTE TO VI 

Von der Pfordten asserts the necessity of epic breadth. 

VII 

This liberality in the matter of logical motivation applies especially 
to the motivation of the catastrophe. Catastrophes are accepted as the 
product of a large historic necessity, even where they cannot be interpreted 
as punishment for guilt, where it is not possible to connect them with a fault, 
or misstep, or any action of the various persons, or where the causes are not 
in any way visible. On the other hand, catastrophes which appear as the 
result of the individual's action, or as punishment for inadequate guilt or 
for adequate guilt, are, of course, often found in this type of drama, as 
they are in life. This broad and all-inclusive principle of historic necessity 
takes the place of the old principle of tragic necessity, of poetic justice, or 
of retribution for guilt. The historic movement presented in this drama 
is the inevitable resultant of conflicting mass tendencies, the individual and 
his milieu are both organs of the age and its necessities; and the age itself 
is the result of previous ages. There is an unavoidable fatality in the great 
historic march of things, a larger, perhaps incomprehensible, causality in all 
the seeming play of chance and arbitrary will. Each individual and the 
mass act only by historic compulsion, and produce, by organically neces- 
sary and justified conflict, the historic result so inevitably different from the 
endeavor of either. Thus the question of guilt and punishment vanishes; 
the grandeur of fate can manifest itself even in an untimely cutting off by 
disease or accident. In place of humanly conceived justice, one has here 
the premonition of an eternal will beyond human comprehension, a causality 
beyond the narrow human vision. The reconciliation is transcendental, 
and is a matter of religious intuition. 

NOTE TO VII 

Thus Schiller had spoken of the "Ahndung .... einer teleologischen 
Verknuepfung der Dinge " (Ueber die tragische Kunst, Vol. VIII, p. 49). Similarly 
Hebbel had spoken of Fate as "die Silhouette Gottes, des Unbegreiflichen und 
Unerfassbaren" (Tagebuecher, I, 224). Cf. also Grillparzer's words quoted above. 



This question as to whether the reconciliation should be immanently 
manifested within the limits of the drama, or whether one's scientific, philo- 
sophic, and religious faith ought to make one willing to accept a lack of visible 
reconciliation in the drama, is a much-discussed problem. Lipps (Der Streit 



THE CORPORATE DRAMA 8 1 

ueber die Tragoedie) strongly opposes this latter view, but it seems to me that 
Volkelt is correct when he opposes the absolute barring of "Weltanschauung" 
from the drama {Die Aesthetik des Tragischen, p. 30). 

As was fully shown in Part I, this question of the motivation of the catastrophe 
has been a bone of contention for ages. The chief possible attitudes concerning 
the question are the following: 

(1) Aristotle, basing his analysis chiefly on Sophocles, had said that the hero, 
great in the main, must fall through some fault of his, and thus awaken pity and 
fear. This view was accepted by Lessing. Here the first requirement was that 
there should be logical connection between the catastrophe and the person to 
whom it happens. As a result of this requirement of logical connection it appeared 
to Aristotle and to Lessing that, as said above, the hero, good in the main, must 
have a decided fault, preferably some form of Hybris or over-assertion of himself 
against other individuals or against the moral Law. The fault, however, is, on 
the whole, felt to be inadequately proportioned to the catastrophe or punishment. 
The guilt may be either conscious, and freely committed, or it may be an act 
compelled by "conditions," or by their symbol "fate." 

(2) Closely related to this view is the view that the fault need be merely an 
action by the hero, which in some way causes the catastrophic result. This view, 
held by Bellermann {Schiller s Dramen), is accepted now by most students of 
tragedy. Lipps, in this connection, calls attention to the fact that the catas- 
trophe is the result, as well, of the situations and characters of those who prepare 
the hero's ruin {33, 75). 

(3) On the other hand, a number of rigorous moralists — as Ulrici, as Ludwig 
— demanded that in every case catastrophe should depend on guilt, and that the 
guilt should be adequately proportioned to the catastrophe. They believed that 
the beneficent moral Power which they postulated at the helm of the universe 
should appear visibly victorious within the limits of the drama. This form of 
the tragic is accepted as one form by Lipps; but he insists that the tragic motif 
lies in the fact that the guilty hero is compelled to acknowledge the victory of 
a moral order. Volkelt also sees that this is one form of the tragic. 

(4) Another group of theorists has insisted that guilt is necessarily inherent 
in the very fact of "individuation " (" Vereinzelung ") . The hero's guilt here lies 
inevitably in the necessary effort of the individual to assert itself as an individual, 
against other individuals and against the Absolute. This is the view discussed 
in Part I, especially in connection with Hegel and Hebbel. Consequently the 
guilt actually committed is often trivial or even invisible. When Hebbel says 
that the case is particularly tragic if the individual is wrecked in consequence of 
a "vortreffliche Bestrebung" {Werke, XI, 40), he approaches very closely the 
following form. 

(5) This form is illustrated in Antigone and in Max Piccolomini. Here 
a guiltless, agressively moral hero chooses consciously the performance of 
a difficult duty, knowing that this will lead to ruin. This phase of the tragic 
is upheld by Dueboc {Die Tragik vom Standpunkt des Optimismus). 



82 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

(6) Guiltlessness was demanded also by philosophers like Schopenhauer 
(Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung); not, however, in order to glorify the 
moral order, but on the contrary, in order to expose what seemed to him a 
complete lack of moral order in the world; in order to flaunt before us, indeed, 
just the irrationality of the world-will, teaching us, thereby, the absolute 
worthlessness of all living, and the desirability of the negation of the "will 
to live." 

(7) Guiltless heroes and unmotived or imperfectly motived catastrophes can 
be found, together with guilty heroes and deserved catastrophes, in Shakespeare, 
in Goethe, in Grillparzer, in Grabbe, and in dramatists generally whenever they 
have allowed their situations to develop naturally, or whenever they have frankly 
accepted given historic facts, without trying, in either case, to fit the plots and 
passions of the small section of life chosen for the drama into the artificial mold 
which they thought was demanded by tragic theory. Whenever they have done 
this they have approached the principle of historic necessity. Volkelt (Die 
Aesthetik des Tragischen) sees that there are many sources of tragic effect, and 
distinguishes "Das Tragische des einfachen Ungluecks" and "Das Tragische des 
verdienten Ungluecks." He admits catastrophes that seem to be the result of 
chance if at the same time the drama gives one the feeling that this chance is some- 
how the work of a mysterious fate-agency. Elster (Prinzipien der Literaturwissen- 
schaft, 26), believes in frankly accepting "den wirklichen Verlauf der Welt." 

Thus we find that theory has distinguished (1) the tragic of inadequate guilt; 
(2) the tragic of mere causal connection between the character or action of the 
hero and his catastrophe; (3) the tragic of adequate guilt; (4) the tragic of the 
guilt of individuation; (5) the tragic of moral valor; (6) the tragic of guiltlessness; 
and (7) the tragic of actuality, which may, or may not, illustrate guilt or moral 
valor, obduracy or repentance. 



Closely connected with the discussion of the motivation of the catastrophe is 
the discussion of the nature of the victorious force that causes the catastrophes 
to occur. The possibilities are the following: 

(1) The power can be presented in the drama as a visibly uncomprehended 
power, or fate, uncomprehended, but worshiped nevertheless. This is the case 
in the antique drama. 

(2) The victorious force can be represented as a visibly reasonable fate- 
power, as supreme justice which metes out carefully its catastrophes only to 
those who deserve them. 

(3) The fate-power can be conceived as reasonable taken in its broadest sense, 
as mere enchainment of cause and effect. This enchainment may be either strictly 
visible in the small section chosen for the drama, or its existence may be accepted 
in spite of a seeming lack of congruence between cause and effect. This last is 
the principle of historic necessity. 



THE CORPORATE DRAMA 83 

VIII 

It is possible, and even necessary, to treat the opposing forces with 
historic objectivity, and to show the justification of all the parties in that 
for which they individually struggle. 

This objectivity is entailed by Hegel's conception of history, as discussed in 
the Introduction. 

IX 

The historic result as a whole being the one reality, it sweeps in its 
destructive track individuals and revolutionary bodies. Yet individual 
men continue to live and mate, and a new mass takes the place of 
the old mass; the species is eternal. Hence scenes indicating this life 
that is to continue give an idyllic relief to the dramatic march, and show 
the nothingness of even the greatest upheavals as against this eternal 
survival. 

X 

The language of this type of historic drama is a language and a 
rhythm more true to the expression of the people concerned than the con- 
ventionalized language and the regular meter of the "tragedy." 

XI 

It is also manifest that the presentation of an historic movement in 
this way needs a larger and freer stage than ours as it is, and that one of 
the main difficulties of the historic dramatist is the adaptation of his play 
to the stage. A return to something of the bareness and vagueness of the 
Elizabethan stage would be a great advantage. However, inasmuch as most 
"acting" plays, even, are far more generally read than seen, and as the 
standard of "actability" varies so enormously with age, race, and class, 
the thought of adaptation to the demands or tastes of our present stage 
and to our ordinary audiences ought not to be too much considered in the 
writing of an historic drama conceived in this form. 

NOTE TO XI 

Even Aristotle had said "Tragedy .... produces its effect without action; 
it reveals its power by mere reading, .... it has vividness of impression in read- 
ing as well as in representation" (Poetics, chap. 26). (Cf. also Hebbel, Werke, 
XI, 53-) 

XII 

The question of historic truth demands a moment's consideration. 
It is clear that the necessity of handling so large a section compels the 
rearrangement of history. Rigid historic literalness can sometimes be 



84 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

sacrificed if the dramatist does not thereby falsify history. His first aim 
is always to give a true picture of the movement chosen. This excludes 
dramas of "tendency," for their aim is political, not historic. 

note to xn 
This subject has been fully illustrated in Part I. 

XIII 

It must be noted, finally, that this type of drama is not necessarily 
a tragedy. Historic events and movements are not always catastrophes 
except from the point of view of the defeated party, and our sympathetic 
attention is often concentrated upon the victorious party from whose point 
of view the action has chiefly been developed. Within the limits of the 
comprehensive world-picture which is given, there is room for tragic and 
non-tragic figures and conflicts. 

Such, then, are the chief features which characterize the corporate 
movement-drama. If existing plays are studied from the point of view 
which results from this conception of the historic drama, much interesting 
light will fall on dramas that have been criticized for lack of unity and 
motivation. Willing forgetfulness of traditional theory, together with 
large-hearted openness in the matter of apprehending new aesthetic values, 
will make possible not only the appreciation of dramas in which this type 
has in the past struggled for existence, but may lead, in the future, to 
interesting and valuable developments. 



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Pfordten, O. v. D. Werden und Wesen des historischen Dramas. Heidelberg, 

190 1. 
Poetzsch, A. Studien zur fruehromantischen Politik und Geschichtsauffassung. 

1907. 
Poppe, Th. Friedrich Hebbel und sein Drama. Berlin, 1900. 
Proelss, R. Geschichte des neueren Dramas. Leipzig, 1880-83. 

. Geschichte des Schauspiels. Leipzig, 1900. 

Raupach, E. Die Hohenstaufen. Hamburg, 1837. 

Redlich, O. Grillparzers Verhaeltniss zur Geschichte. Wien, 190 1. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 

Roetscher, H. Th. Entwicklung dramatischer Charaktere. Hannover, 1869. 

■. . Jahrbuecher fuer dramatische Kunst. Berlin, 1848-49. 

. Shakespeare in seinen hoechsten Charaktergebilden. Dresden, 1864. 

Saintsbury, G. History of Criticism. Edinburgh, 1900-4. 
Schelling, F. E. Elizabethan Drama. Boston, 1908. 

. The English Chronicle Play. New York, 1902. 

Schelling, F. W. J. Saemtliche Werke. Stuttgart u. Augsburg, 1856-61. 
Scheunert, A. Der Pantragismus als System der Weltanschauung und 

Aesthetik Friedrich Hebbels. Leipzig, 1903. 
Schiller, J. C. F. Werke, herausgegeben von Bellermann. Leipzig u. Wien, 

1895. 
Schlegel, A. W. v. Saemtliche Werke. Leipzig, 1846-47. , 
Schlegel, C. W. F. v. Saemtliche Werke. Wien, 1846. 
Schmidt, J. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. 

Leipzig, 1855. 
Schmitt, J. Studien zur Technik der historischen Tragoedie Friedrich Hebbels. 

Dortmund, 1906. 
Schnabel, H. "Ueber das Wesen der Tragoedie," Zeitschrift fuer Aesthetik, 

1910. 
Scholz, W. v. Hebbel. Berlin, 1905. 

. Gedanken zum Drama. Muenchen, 1905. 

Schopenhauer, A. Werke. Leipzig, 1891 (zweite Auflage). 

Schwerin, R. Graf v. Das Wesen der Dramas erlaeutert durch Hebbels eigene 

Aussprueche. Rostock i. M., 1903. 
Sidney, Sir Philip. Apologie for Poetrie. English Reprints. London, 1868. 
Skeat, W. W. Shakespeare's Plutarch. London, 1875. 
Solger, K. W. F. Vorlesungen ueber Aesthetik. Leipzig, 1829. 
. Erwin: Vier Gespraeche ueber das Schoene und die Kunst. Berlin, 

1815. 

. Nachgelassene Schriften. Leipzig, 1826. 

Spingarn, J. E. A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance. New 

York, 1908. 
Thorndike, A. H. Tragedy. Boston, 1908. 
Tleck, L. Schriften. Berlin u. Leipzig, 1828-54. 

Tomaschek, K. Schiller in seinem Verhaeltniss zur Wissenschaft. Wien, 1862. 
Ueberweg, F. Schiller als Historiker und Philosoph. Leipzig, 1884. 
Ulrici, H. Geschichte der hellenischen Dichtkunst. Berlin, 1835. 

. Shakespeares dramatische Kunst. Leipzig, 1847. 

Variorum edition of Shakespeare's Historical Plays. Edited by H. H. Furness. 

London and Philadelphia. 
Vaughn, C. E. Types of Tragic Drama. London, 1908. 
Vischer, F. Aesthetik. Reutlingen u. Leipzig, 1846-57. 
Volkelt, J. Die Aesthetik des Tragischen. Muenchen, 1897 (zweite Auflage). 

. Grillparzer als Dichter des Tragischen. Noerdlingen, 1888. 

Voltaire. (Euvres completes. Paris, 1828. 



90 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

Waetzoldt, W. Hebbel und die Philosophic seiner Zeit. Graefenhainichen, 

1903. 
Walter, J. Geschichte der Aesthetik im Altertum. Leipzig, 1893. 
Walzel, O. Hebbelprobleme. Leipzig, 1909. 

Wanteck, G. Gottsched und die Literatur seiner Zeit. Leipzig, 1897. 
Warner, B. E. English History in Shakespeare. New York, 1894 (1896). 
Weddigen, F. H. O. Lessings Theorie der Tragoedie. Berlin, 1876. 
Wegele, F. X. " Geschichte der deutschen Historiagraphie," Geschichten der 

Wissenschaften in Deutschland, Band 20. 
Weisse, C. H. System der Aesthetik als Wissenschaft von der Idee der Schoen- 

heit. Leipzig, 1830. 
Weitbrecht, C. Das deutsche Drama. Berlin, 1900. 
Weltley, G. Dramen der Gegenwart. Strassburg i. Els., 1903. 
Wetz, W. "Ueber das Verhaeltniss der Dichtung zur Geschichte," Zeitschrift 

fuer vergleichende Literaturgeschichte, 1896. 
White, R. G. Studies in Shakespeare. Boston, 1886. 
Wienbarg, L. Zur neuesten Literatur. Mannheim, 1835. 

. Aesthetische Feldzuege. Hamburg, 1834. 

Windelband, v. Die Lehren vom Zufall. Berlin, 1870. 

. Die Philosophic im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Heidelberg, 1904. 

Zeegler, K. Grabbes Leben und Charakter. Hamburg, 1855. 

Zeegler, Th. Die geistigen und sozialen Stroemungen des neunzehnten Jahr- 

hunderts. Berlin, 1901. 
Ztnckernagel, F. Die Grundlagen der Hebbelschen Tragoedie. Marburg 

a. L., 1904. 

A LIST OE PLAYS 

The English Mystery Plays (Chester, Coventry, Towneley, York). 

J. Bale. Kynge Johan. 

Sackville and Norton. Gorboduc; Locrine; The Misfortunes of Arthur. 

T. Kyd. The Spanish Tragedy. 

R. Greene. James IV. George a' Greene. 

The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England. 

The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of York. 

Jack Strawe. 

T. Lodge. The Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla. 

G. Peele. Edward I. 

Sir Thomas More. 

The History of Thomas Lord Cromwell. 

C. Marlowe. Tamburlaine; Edward II; The Massacre of Paris. 

T. Heywood. Edward IV. 

W. Shakespeare. King John; Richard II; Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2; Henry V; 
Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3; Richard III; Henry VIII; King Lear; Cym- 
beline; Coriolanus; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; Hamlet; 
Macbeth. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 9 1 

T. Dekker. Sir Thomas Wyatt. 
Ben Jonson. Sejanus; Catiline. 
G. Chapman. Bussy D'Ambois; The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois; Byron's 

Conspiracy; The Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron; Chabot.' 
Fletcher and Massinger. John van Olden Barnevelt. 
Nero. 

T. Nabbes. Hannibal and Scipio. 
J. Ford. Perkin Warbeck. 
H. Glapthorne. Albertus Wallenstein. 



Das Drama des Mittelalters. In Kuerschner, Nationalliteratur. 

Das Drama der Reformationszeit; ibid. 

Die englischen Komoedianten; ibid. 

Schweizerische Schauspiele des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts. Edited by Baechtold. 

D. C. v. Lohenstein. Cleopatra. 

C. A. v. Haugwitz. Maria Stuarda. 

A. Gryphius. Carolus Stuardus; Leo Arminius; Catharina von Georgien. 

C. Weise. Masaniello. 

Die Wiener Haupt und Staatsaktionen. Edited by K. Weiss. 

Karl XII, eine Staatsaktion. Edited by H. Lindner. 

J. E Schlegel. Herrmann. 

J. Moeser. Arminius. 

F. G. Klopstock. Hermanns Schlacht; Hermann und die Fuersten; Hermanns 

Tod. 
H. W. Gerstenberg. Ugolino. 
J. F. Cronegk. Olint und Sophronia. 
J. W. v. Brawe. Brutus. 

G. E. Lesslng. Philotas; Minna von Barnhelm; Emilia Galotti; Nathan der 

Weise; Henzi-Fragment. 
C. F. Weisse. Richard III. 
J. A. Leisewitz. Julius von Tarent. 
J. W. v. Goethe. GoetzvonBerlichingen; Egmont; Tasso; DerBuergergeneral; 

Die Aufgeregten; Der Grosskophta; Die natuerliche Tochter. 
J. C. F. v. Schiller. Fiesco; Kabale und Liebe; Don Karlos; Wallenstein; 

Maria Stuart; Die Jungfrau von Orleans; Die Braut von Messina; Wil- 

helm Tell; Demetrius. 
F. Mueller. Golo und Genoveva. 
A. Nagel. Der Buergeraufruhr in Landshut. 
J. Mater. Fust von Stromberg. 
M. Blaimhofer. Die Schweden in Baiern. 
J. A. Toerrlng. Agnes Bernauerin; Kaspar der Thorringer. 
J. M. Babo. Otto von Wittelsbach. 
H. J. v. Collin. Regulus. 
T. Koerner. Zriny. 



92 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC DRAMA 

A. v. Kotzebue. Gustav Wasa. 

L. Tieck. Kaiser Octavian; Leben und Tod der heiligen Genoveva. 

Z. Werner. Die Weihe der Kraft. 

A. v. Arnim. Der echte und der falsche Waldemar; Der Markgraf von Branden- 
burg. 

C. Brentano. Die Gruendung Prags. 

H. v. Kleist. Robert Guiscard; Kaethchen von Heilbronn; Die Hermanns- 
schlacht; Der Prinz von Homburg. 

L. Uhland. Ernst Herzog von Schwaben; Ludwig der Baier. 

P. F. v. Uechtritz. Alexander und Darius; Die Babylonier in Jerusalem. 

M. Beer. Struensee. 

E. v. Schenk. Belisar. 

F. Grtllparzer. Koenig Ottokars Glueck und Ende; Ein treuer Diener seines 

Herm; Die Juedin von Toledo; Bruderzwist in Hapsburg; Libussa. 
K. L. Immermann. Friedrich der Zweite; Alexis; Andreas Hofer. 

E. Raupach. Die Hohenstaufen; Crom wells Ende. 

C. D. Grabbe. Marius und Sulla; Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa; Kaiser Hein- 
rich der Sechste; Napoleon; Hannibal; Die Hermannsschlacht. 

G. Buechner. Dantons Tod. 

A. v. Platen. Marats Tod; Die Liga von Cambrai. 
A. Fischer. Masaniello. 

F. Rueckert. Kaiser Heinrich der Vierte; Cristofero Colombo; Herodes der 

Grosse. 
H. Laube. Monaldeschi; Struensee; Essex. 

K. F. Gutzkow. Nero; Patkul; Zopf und Schwert; Wullenweber. 
F. Hebbel. Judith; Herodes und Mariamne; Genoveva; Agnes Bernauer; 

Gyges und sein Ring; Die Nibelungen; Demetrius; Moloch; Die Dith- 

marschen. 
O. Ludwig. Die Makkabaeer; Genoveva; Wallensteinentwurf. 
W. Gaertner. Andreas Hofer. 
K. R. v. Gottschall. Ulrich von Hutten; Robespierre; Koenig Karl XII; 

Herzog Bernhard von Weimar. 
R. Prutz. Karl von Bourbon; Moritz von Sachsen. 
W. R. Grtepenkerl. Maximilian Robespierre; Die Girondisten. 

F. Halm (E. F. J. v. Mtjench-Bellingbausen). Der Fechter von Ravenna. 

E. Palleske. Koenig Monmouth; Oliver Cromwell. 

J. Mosen. Kaiser Otto der Dritte; Der Sohn des Fuersten; Herzog Bernhard 
von Weimar. 

G. Freytag. Die Fabier. 

P. Heyse. Ludwig der Baier; Alkibiades. 

A. Lindner. Brutus and Collatinus; Die Bluthochzeit; Der Reformator. 

R. Hamerling. Dan ton und Robespierre. 

F. C. Bledermann. Kaiser Heinrich IV; Kaiser Otto III; Der letzte Buer- 

germeister von Strassburg. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 

F. v. Saar. Kaiser Heinrich IV. 

A. v. Wilbrandt. Gracchus der Volkstribun; Arria und Messalina; Nero. 
M. Gred? (F. H. Frey). Nero; Prinz Eugen; Heinrich der Loewe; Konradin. 
H. Bulthaupt. Gerold Wendel; Eine neue Welt. 

D. v. Ldhencron. Der Trifels und Palermo. 

E. v. Wildenbruch. Harald; Die Karolinger; Die Quitzows; Heinrich und 

Heinrichs Geschlecht. 
K. Bleibtreu. Schicksal; Weltgericht. 
H. Sudermann. Teja; Johannes. 

G. Hatjptmann. Die Weber; Florian Geyer. 

H. v. Gumppenberg. Koenig Konrad I; Koenig Heinrich I. 

O. v. d. Pfordten. 1812; Der Koenig von Rom; Friedrich der Grosse. 

A. Ott. Karl der Kuehne und die Eidgenossen. 

F. Held. Das Fest auf der Bastille. 

F. Llenhard. Naphtali; Luther auf der Wartburg. 

J. Laufp. Der Burggraf ; Der Eisenzahn. 

W. Weigand. Florian Geyer. 

M. Buehler und G. Luck. Calvinfestspiele in Chur. 

For purposes of comparison historic dramas of Lope de Vegas, Corneille, 
Racine, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Byron, Tennyson, Browning, Ibsen, and others 
have been considered. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Addison, 12. 
Aristotle, 10. 
Boileau, 13. 
Buechner, 48. 
Chapman, 12. 
Coleridge, 66. 
Corneille, 13. 
Dryden, 12. 
Ford, n. 
Freytag, 61, 72. 
Gervinus, 52. 
Goethe, 18 ff. 
Gottsched, 14. 
Grabbe, 41 ff. 
Griepenkerl, 49. 
Grillparzer, 34 ff. 
Gumppenberg, 65. 
Gutzkow, 52, 72. 
Hebbel, 52 ff., 72. 
Hegel, 49. 
Hettner, 61, 72. 
Ibsen, 64. 
Immermann, 38 ff. 
Johnson, 13. 
Jonson, 12. 



Klopstock, 14. 
Koch, 72. 
Laube, 53. 
Lessing, 15 ff. 
Lothar, 64. 
Lublinski, 65. 
Ludwig, 62 ff. 

Meyer, R. M., 65, 72. 
Meyr, Melchior, 51. 

Opitz, 14. 

Roetscher, 51. 
Rymer, 12. 

Schiller, 23 ff. 
Schlegel, A. W., 33. 
Sidney, 12. 

Tieck, 33 . 

Ulrici, 51. 

Vaughn, 66. 
Vischer, 56. 
Voltaire, 14. 
Von der Pfordten, 65. 

Welthly, 64. 
Woodbridge, 66. 



95 



[ 22 1910 



